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Usa Update

Posted by: Daniel Carruthers
Tuesday 10th July 07
1,146 reads

www.dunnersdan.com

I have been in the States now for just over three weeks visiting friends and family. I’m based in Austin, Texas for the summer and have been doing some training miles and have done several races so far. The weather over this last week has been totally weird for Texas! Its normally 95-100 degrees at this time of the year with blue cloudless skies but we have been getting numerous thunderstorms with great lightning shows. Since the race last Sunday I have not yet gone out for a ride due to the storms out there. Tuesday night bunch ride was cancelled and the Thursday night criterium was also cancelled! So, I'm hoping that these thunderstorms will go away soon {Smile}

However, the weather is still much warmer and sunnier than Auckland right now and I am getting my cycling tan back.

Race 1: AT&T Austin Downtown Criterium – 56th
This was a full-on pro race with a number of highly ranked pros lining up the start line, including Australian Tour de France rider Henk Vogels, Serbian National champion Ivan Sevik, and British pro rider Kristian House. This criterium was part of the USA Criterium series and therefore it was going to be a very fast race with riders competing for points and the generous prize money on offer for the top 50 riders. The criterium course was just a 1km in lengh and was very rough with numerous pot-holes and uneven surfaces, making for some quite challenging riding while maintaining a speed average of 30miles per hour. About 100 racers lined up at the start-line with about 15,000 spectators lined up around the course cheering us on. The race was extremely quick from the gun and the field was strung out. My goal was to stay in the top third of the field and not drift too far back. Despite my lack of training leading up to this event with my international travel from New Zealand and a bout of flu in the last week in New Zealand disrupting the preparation, I felt that I rode respectably well given that it was a US pro race. Initially, I thought I might blow inside the first 20mins but I made it through and at the 30 minute mark there was a slight lull in the pace, so I took my opportunity to move up to the front and found myself jumping away with 8 other riders in a breakaway that lasted just 2 laps before we were reeled back in. I am guessing that this effort in the breakaway cost me a decent finish since I was hanging on for dear life at the 50 minute mark. I was near the back of the field, about 10 riders still behind me and I was just fighting to keep my position. With 7 laps remaining in the race, I finally popped and could not regain contact with the tail end of the fast moving bunch. I was pulled from the race with 5 laps remaining. So I had lasted for 64 minutes of the 70minute criterium. My average heart rate was 181bpm and in the last 5 minutes my heart rate was over 190! Average speed was just over 45km/h. Almost half the field was shelled out the back due to the vicious pace throughout the race

Race 2: Driveway Criterium – 5th
This is a local weekly criterium that is held in Austin that is very popular. It’s held on a fully enclosed car racing strip that has some really sharp corners and is super smooth. About 30-40 racers showed up for the elite category to race for 60 minutes. In the first ten minutes several riders jumped clear and I decided to jump across to them. I sprinted hard with two other riders on my wheel and we bridged across to form a strong breakaway of six riders. Once the guys realized that this was a break that was going to stay away, they all started working together smoothly. Eventually we lapped the field with 15 minutes remaining. I went straight to the front again and tried to escape but this time the rest of the field were keen to stay with us. I probably did too much work covering all the attacks that went that I missed the break of three riders about 5 minutes from the end. It was difficult for me since there were three Team San Jose riders that were in the break that lapped the field. They sent one rider up the road late in the race while blocking with the other riders. The other riders did not seem interested in chasing so the pace actually slowed down to only 35km/h. I was forced to ride out the front again to up the pace in an attempt to catch the front three. I was a lone rider outsmarted by some good teamwork. I rolled across the line for 5th place. Averaged 318 watts.

Race 3: San Antonio July Stage 1 Challenge – 3rd
I had the best result so far on this visit to the States finishing in 3rd place in an 80km road race. A competitive pro 1,2 field of about 60 riders showed up to race on a 4km circuit. Initially I just rode in the bunch and watched to see what would happen. A few lone attackers went up the road but all come back pretty quickly. After 10 minutes of racing, I decided that I would attack and see what would happen. A Mexican rider came with me and we got a good 20 second lead on the bunch swapping turns on the front. Another rider bridged across to us and the three of us worked well together for two laps but the bunch had other ideas and came surging past us and it was all back together again. I got back into the bunch and positioned myself about 15 riders back from the front and waited to see who would make the next move. A few more attacks went up the road and a breakaway of about 12 riders were dangling about 50 meters up the road, but when Kristian House went to bridge across everyone else responded. This strung out the whole field with gaps opening up. It was hard work at this point hanging in but once we caught the front the pace slacked off a bit and the pace was reasonable. A few minutes later there was a flurry of more attacks and five riders jumped clear. I decided to follow when a rider came past to bridge to the break. I sprinted up to his wheel and he took me half way before I had to take a turn to help get across. Four of us managed to bridge up to the front five and we formed the winning breakaway that finished more than 2 minutes ahead of the main bunch by the end. For the most part we worked well together rotating smoothly. About 3 laps from the finish a couple of guys tried to attack the group to take the race but we all responded to stop the move. During the last lap, a massive attack up one of the hills split the break in half (I was with the front four) but once over the hill, the front couple of guys sat up and allowed the break to re-group again. It was going to be an up-hill sprint between nine riders. I made sure that I was third wheel going into the last corner. The guy in front of me started his sprint and I followed him up… passed the rider that was on front and I was second wheel with 200 meters to go. I did not have enough power to come around the front guy and a rider from behind me shot past me in the last 100 meters to take the win by a couple of bike lengths. I was satisfied with my 3rd placing and I have to race again for the last two stages if I am going to be in the running for overall placing and decent prize money {Smile}

More up-dates about my riding and racing will follow. Thanks for reading and keep riding hard!

Thanks to the continued support of my sponsors, especially Hansaton Hearing Systems for their financial support and hearing systems support Smith Optics for providing me with a range of stunning eye-wear for both on and off the bike and Leppin Sport for providing my energy needs. Finally a big thank you must go to Tineli Performance Bikewear for printing professionally designed Hansaton race quality uniforms.

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