Taeler Cup Freiburger Race

This was the last race of the USA cycling camp and I was really hoping to perform well. Luckily it did go very well and I won! This race, unlike the other races I had previously done was at 2:30 in the afternoon. Because of this late start time I had a lot of time to warmup. Off the start I could tell that my legs were feeling good. A german junior was leading initially up the climb and I was able to just power by the whole field and catch him. I wasn't really planning on getting to the front of the race at the very start, but because of how good my legs felt I ended up leading. Once I had passed the leader I just kept pushing it and gapped him immediately. From then on for the next 6 laps I led the race and was able to push it hard. This race had tons of climbing and I just felt like I never had to back off the gas. My legs were just feeling incredible. Even into the first lap I started catching the back end of the pro field who started 2 minutes in front of us. From then on I just kept the lead and kept passing lots of pro's. On the 3rd lap on one of the hills, I looked back and saw that actually one of my American teammates, Will Curtis, was only 10 seconds behind me. I knew then that I had to put on the gas for the next 3 laps. From then on I gapped him pretty dramatically and came into the finish two and a half minutes ahead of second. The race was pretty short. My time was 1:09:31. Also I figured out that by the end of the race I got all the way up to top ten in the pro class who started ahead of me.

I was really happy to have a race where everything finally came together. The nutrition, technique, and the power all felt stellar. I think the long warmup before the race really contributed to my legs feeling so fast off the start and for the remainder of the race. Regardless of how I finished, I was really happy to see that my form is there for the next national races to come in the states.