Nats was a big target for all of us this year. Logan and Chase have been on pretty good form all year, I’ve gotten in shape the last month or so. Calder has been working hard all season and upgraded to an A after the first race. It was rough for him at the beginning but he’s turned into quite the formidable rider-it’s a school of hard knocks but I’m so glad he upgraded. He’s become such an important part of the team both on and off the road.

We left Wednesday evening and drove to Omaha (which we found out has a bigger population than the city of Minneapolis) and stayed at some host housing there (Thanks to Kevin Limpach.) We got up early the next day and drove the rest of the way with enough time to spare for a ride in the early evening.  We checked into our room but had to switch into only a marginally better room because they hadn’t cleaned the first one. We finally got out for a ride where I dropped my chain and almost crashed. We went to bed in time for a healthy 9 hours of sleep in advance of the road race start at 1 pm the next day.

I was the protected rider for the four laps of the hilly and exposed course of 66 miles. The race started off pretty easy, with no moves going. The first time up the couple of kickers, the race split up a little but came back together. By the start of the second lap, the race had seriously separated with a break of 3 Colorado riders up the road (always dangerous at altitude), and a seriously diminished group (30 riders?), who all had either teammates up the road or only had a couple of riders left in the field. I floated back to see if any of my teammates had made the split and no one had. Coming around into the kickers, I felt my wheel rub on the pavement once, and asked the guy next to me if I had gone flat. It was a slow leak, so I decided to wait until after the descent to get a wheel.

At the bottom I pulled over but the neutral support guy couldn’t get the wheel into the dropout, which caused the neutral wheel to rub really seriously on the brake pads. He finally got the wheel in, and I took off, passing one of the dropped groups and drafting off of the car for a minute. I heard I had over three minutes to make up, and decided to pull out at the beginning of the lap, where I saw Calder and Logan had pulled out as well. I found out via my Garmin that I had been stopped for 3.5 minutes trying to sort the wheel out. Chase finished the race just inside the top 50, the rest of us were bummed. We got dinner and then drove to recon the TTT course.

I asked last years TTT bronze medalist, UW-Madison Alum, and Collegiate Omnium Natty Champ Max Ackermann for some advice. He told us to burn a rider before the turnaround because of the altitude. After the recon we finalized our pacing strategy, determining that Calder would take his last pull around the turnaround.

It was an early wakeup for a 9:45 start time. We warmed up independently the next morning and all got in a good headspace. We knew that it was going to hurt if we were going to do well, and we all knew we could suffer for each other, We went over to the line, starting 4th out of the 11 teams. The last preps happened quickly as they always do, and before we knew it we were away into the first rolling section. We were working great together, I tried to pull up the hills as much as I could while still being effective in the rotation and Calder and Logan would try to pull down them. We had already passed the team that started in front of us. The last 3-4 miles before the turnaround were a pretty brutal headwind, and we all went really deep. We made it around the turnaround quickly and cleanly and Calder dropped off. Only three left. We were committed.

The ride back was screaming fast due to the tailwind, I was in my biggest gear almost the whole time. We hurt, but if someone needed to take a shorter pull, the next one of us was ready to go and drill it. we reached the turn to the finishing stretch, which was up a pretty steep 2km hill. I went to the front, knowing this was my strongest part.

So I pulled. Harder than I ever have-it honestly gives me chills writing this. I was thinking about how bad it hurt. I was praying Logan and Chase were still on my wheel. Chase yelled a few words of encouragement which helped. A guy on the side of the road cheered for us, then winced, which helped too. With 500m left Chase and Logan came around me and started sprinting. I did all I could to hang on.

When we crossed the line: “And with that time, Minnesota goes into the hot seat.”

We all collapsed on the side of the road. Logan sat against a rock. Me and Chase lied down in the road. We all smiled at each other. I was crying/laughing a little bit but I had to stop because I couldn’t breathe. Even if we hadn’t set the fastest time, we all knew that we had done one of our best efforts.

As the teams rolled in, none of them bested our time. Another team we had our eye out for, CSU rolled in second to last without beating our time. We knew we had the silver locked up. Then the defending champs, CU Boulder rolled in. We listened for their time: a minute faster than us. We all deflated a bit, but in no way could be disappointed by our tremendous result. That afternoon, we celebrated with some coffee before getting some pizza financed by my mother. We went over to the Nationals Banquet for a podium picture. The CU Boulder team has 2 pros on it. We were very happy.

The final day was the crit. We were all committed to a singular goal-win. It was another hot day, quite sunny in Grand Junction. We got to the course well in advance, got some coffee, tried to stay cool and out of the sun. We were all trying to emulate our own ‘in the zoneness’ from the day before, and all got there. Then we were off. Logan was the team leader, me and Chase were going to try to infiltrate any dangerous breaks.

I started next to Logan towards the back and it took us only 2 laps to work our way to the front. (#critlife). Five laps in, Chase, Logan, and I were all active at the front. A slightly dangerous move escaped around then for 6ish laps, but was pulled back by the Colorado teams. Their recapture kicked off a flurry of attacks, one strong move escaped with me,CSU, CU Boulder, and UCLA. We were dragged back a couple of laps later, and then the real move went. It started off with fiveish riders, then Chase rolled off into the move behind Road Race national champ Eric Brunner. 9 got up the road, and Logan pulled up to me a little while later “it’s gone,” he said. I agreed. We had both been in the box for the first 30 minutes of the race and were hot, tired, and content with the fact that chase made the break.

We looked around and realized there were only about 30 people left in the main field. 10ish riders made vain attempts at chasing and attacking but failed to bring back any meaningful time. The group trickled down to 25, then 20. One to go Logan got on my wheel but I was swarmed. Two corners to go I got back up front, but someone came into me hard in the final stretch and I was passed by probably 10 people, almost going down in the process. Chase had attacked in the final lap but was caught, ending up 9th. Logan got 12th, I rolled in for 21st. A solid day for any team, but a little disappointing given our expectations.

We sat on the curb for about 30 minutes. Calder bought us all sodas-he had crashed out 20 minutes in and broke his bike. Somehow he was still happy he had come to nats. I was happy he tagged along.

We got milkshakes and sandwiches after the race. Then we started the long drive home. We stopped in North Platte, Nebraska for 7.5 hours of sleep after a traffic jam and an 11,000 foot, high altitude, outdoor pee stop. The next day we arrived in time for me to work a Monday evening shift at the ramen shop I work at.

36 hours driving. Four medals. 2600 miles. A few tears, a little blood. A great nationals. Next year it’s in Augusta, Georgia. We’re not messing around this time.

Reflecting on this experience I am so incredibly grateful for the graduating seniors, the new members, our sponsors (TNR Tape, HED, Hollywood Cycles, The Fix Studio, more), our school, my parents, my friends, my job, so much. This wouldn’t be possible without the support and love of so many people. It’s incredible how much support we’ve gotten from our mentors, competitors, teammates, strangers, U of M alums. I truly can’t list them all.

Lastly, I’d like to thank Logan and Calder. You guys are tremendous leaders and do so much for not only the team, but each individual inside of it. I’m so sad to see you guys leave, but I know you have big plans.

Logan: congrats on your marriage, your imminent Cat 1 upgrade, your graduation, and your exciting future. You’ve been an incredibly influential individual not only on my development in bike racing, but also as my maturation as person. You’re an incredible role model. I mean it.

Calder: I’m so glad we have had the chance to become friends. You are a jack of all trades in athleticism, hobbies, travel, cooking, so much more. You are an inspiration to me. Sorry about the bike. Can’t wait to adventure with you this summer.

I really love these guys. I really love the team. This shit makes me so happy.

Jack

P.S. Louis, Chase, and Liza: glad you guys are my friends.