Leece Nationals Race Report

We made it to Bend Tuesday for the week of racing at USA Cycling National Championships.  Steve and I had time to pre ride the road race course Tuesday night.  27K loop with a little over 1000 ft of climbing.  2 separate main climbs but nothing super steep and really more power climbs than anything else.  Steve was doing 4 laps for 66 miles.  Road race was Thursday and went early which was good as it has consistently been in the mid 90's.  There were 125 riders in the Junior 17/18 race.  

After seeing Steve start we headed to the last climb to see the first lap go by.  It basically was a race of attrition with the lead group decreasing by about a third each lap.  Steve kept good position in the top 20 for most the race.  

We then positioned ourselves at the feed zone which was an absolute zoo.  Because of the heat, Steve fed on laps 2,3,4.  100 riders trying to get water bottles on a false flat section in between the two climbs.  But.... no dropped bottles.  The course had a rolling closure throughout which allowed us to move about some during the race.

On the last lap a climber from the best team CMG/Hammer went off with another rider.  There was a chase by one other rider and the lead group dwindled to about 30.  The finish was about 5K from the last climb and the final 300 meters were after a turn and were downhill slightly.  Strategy was to fight for position going into that turn.  Steve was able to get in pretty good position in the lead group and held it to the line to finish 14th.  An excellent result for his first nationals and less than a year since his first ever bike race. Proud Mom and Dad.

The TT was the next day.  Was an out and back.  The course was 24K.  There was a significant 3-5% climb on the way out so the strategy was to go hard on the 1st half as that was where most of the selection was going to be made.  Steve felt a little tired from the day before,  but had a good warmup to be ready out the gates.  May have gone a little too hard in the early going but still finished a solid 22nd in a field of over 100.

Steve has the crit tommorrow which is downtown and should be a fun event.  Will definately be fast, he may try to look for some breaks.

Overall a great time in Bend so far.  Will be traveling home Sunday and Monday.

Ciao,

David