G'day,
well spring collegiate racing season is in full swing here. We have just finished our 5th weekend of racing on the trot with 10 races notched up so far. The team has been amazing so far racking up 2 wins, 2 2nds 4 3rds and a but load of top 10's which has put us up to 3rd on the teams rankings. This is quite a feat as we are probably the only Division 1 school in the conference that has no women so to be up there speaks a lot for our male only team.
Workin' hard for the boys. It was wet, real wet!
I have had some good form this season so far which has helped me to some good results. I took 6th in the Lindsey Wilson individual time trial which was a surprise as the race against the clock really isn't my forte. The best result so far has come on home turf at the Lindenwood Road Race taking 2nd behind my super strong breakaway compatriot Chris Uberti after going clear of the main pack with a little over 70 kilometers to the finish. I was pretty devestated to loose at my home race especially after how hard the race was but Chris is a far better cyclist then I and really deserved the win. Next time I'll have it though.
I'm not the greatest sprinter at the best of times, especially after 135kms.
My purple patch continued into the following weekend at the Southern Illinois University race. The game plan was for either me or my Spanish team mate Jose to get in the early break and force a chase from other teams and to ease the pressure off Matt and Owen a bit. So being the good team player I charged off the line only to get a kilometer down the road to be sweeped up by the pack, well you know what they say "if at first it doesn't work, then try again!". So after a quick drink I went again and luckily (or unluckily) they let me have some space and wouldn't be seen by any of the group until 5kms to go. I knew I had a lot of time on the group when I saw the face of the Marian coach and was confirmed when I got my first time check that I had 6 minutes on the pack.
It got lonely out there, there weren't huge crowds in rural Southern Illinois.
So after 90 long kms off the front alone a small group of riders finally closed the gap on me with about 5kms to go. Another victory just out reach. I wasn't too bummed though, I did my job and went as hard as I could.
Coach giving me the score in the cricket.
Well we have just completed a huge week of training over spring break which should put us in good shape for Nationals which is exactly one month away. Lindenwood will be looking for a good showing this year and I think we will surprise a few teams.
Until next time, take care.
Chev.
