Ben King: 2010 U23 National Criterium Champion
Hello from beautiful Bend, Oregon.
U23 National Time Trial: 35 km
I could basically copy paste my depressed report from last year’s tt on this course. After series of flustering incidents before and during the race, including the information that a friend was recently diagnosed with cancer, I was frustrated with my 15th place. Fortunately for the team’s morale Nate Brown had a solid ride and finished 4th, and Julian Kyer took 6th (another repeat performance). Although I was disappointed, I was not discouraged. It was simply a bad ride. On to the next one.
National Criterium Championship: 60 km
Today we had a lot of cards to play with three of the fastest U23 sprinters fully supported by the rest of us. As the lap board counted down from 46, it was clear that we weren’t the only ones looking for an aggressive race. Attack after attack kept the pace high, but no one could escape the grip of the peloton. Our team was represented in almost every move. The aggression increased noticeably inside 10 laps to go. With 4 to go, last year’s champ, Alex Howes, countered a move by his teammate on Garmin Transitions, our main competition. Again, no gap on the field. I took advantage of his effort and attacked with 3.5 laps remaining, hoping that the other strong teams would burn up early trying to catch me. Our sprinters could relax behind them and do their job at the finish. One rider came up to me, but looked incapable of working, so I put my head down. Make them Chase! With two laps to go, we still had about a 300 yard lead. It began to dawn on me that what began as a suicide move for my teammates, could become the late race winning attack. I continued to bury myself, glancing back every so often to check the lead. The pack stretched in pursuit gave me a jolt of adrenaline. Entering the final lap, I could see the sprinters thrashing on their bars and knew they were closing fast. However, coming down the home stretch I had enough lead for a proper victory salute.