91 miles and a lot of punchy climbs on the 3-lap 23 circuit after a 11 mile run out to the loop. I will be the first to admit that after stage 2 my morale was a bit low!! I was questioning my lack of experience and just about everything else. But, after a good talk with my coach Dee Bell, my wife and team-mates I tried to just focus on the this stage.
We started out under mostly overcast skies and cooler temps, and quite frankly I was pretty apprehensive about how my legs would respond. But, after the first 30-45 minutes I could feel I was on track again!! If you've ever raced, you know the awesome feeling when you know you're going just as good as everyone else!!! That was Stage 3 for me.. With Caleb sitting in 11th on the GC we wanted to either have the race stay together or get him in the break. When we missed the break and the gap was getting a bit large with half of the race done, I moved up and with my "re-discovered fitness" went to the front started putting the hammer down! With the field in full chase mode we quickly started reeling in the break, with the break of 9 in sight, Kyle made a move to bridge up on a climb. Perfect!! no more chasing now! so I sat at the front of the field for a bit to give the break a chance, but the several teams with nobody in the break started chasing again. When it became apparent the break would be caught I drifted back but still tried to stay in the top 25. We caught the break with about 5 miles to go, and then it was on!! With the mostly flat run-in to the finish the speeds were very high.. The last several K's were just a constant fight for position, with about 800 meters to go I was feeling good and in decent position but after having to move out in the wind to come around guys that were falling off, I finished 8th... I'm ok with the result racing against the best in the nation!! I feel I've made pretty good progress for just being my 2nd year!!
Next up, the toughest crit I'll have ever done!!
Travis,
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