The weather never came. It was supposed to sleet and rain all afternoon, but it was dry. The course was challenging. I didn’t get a good warmup because of abunch of mechanical issues. New chain wasn’t working with my 19 in the back. Broke a buckle on my shoe, so I couldn’t release or tighten it, etc.

I got an OK start, but wasn’t looking to go fast from the gun. Matt White got away within a 100 meters. I was stuck behind a few guys, or I would of went with him. Soon, I was in a big chase group going nowhere. Eventually, Jeremiah Bishop, Trek came up to the front and pulled virtually the rest of the race.

I felt pretty good sitting on and knew that Jeremiah would keep going, hopefully chasing Matt down. He kept him at 15 seconds or so, meanwhile, everyone else behind me kept getting shelled. Jeremiah swung off a few times to have me pull, but I decided that my best chance to win would be to go on the last lap. It was a calculated decision, but I was pretty sure he was only there to win, so he’d keep pulling.

The gap with one lap to go was around 12 seconds or so. Jeremiah picked up the pace abit. I had planned to attack before the one major climb with about 1/2 a lap to go, but I screwed up a slick corner about 500 meters earlier and had to chase back on, so didn’t get by in time to lead up the hill. At that point, I thought we were racing for 2nd. And we were I guess.

I missed my opportunity to jump, so gave up my chance to win. It is so strange that such small mistakes can make such big differences in results. I took over the lead before the last technical section. I knew the first rider onto the road would win the sprint. What suprised me was how close we came to catching Matt White. I was sprinting up to him as he threw up his arms. 2 seconds back. But, he knew he only needed to go as hard as he did. So, I was 2nd. 20 UCI points. Not enought to help much at Nationals. I needed the 30 for winning. So, I’m gonna be on the 3rd row most likely. Maybe I’ll get a better start than in previous years. Never know.

Elite men
Place  U23       Time      First Name     Last Name        Team                                                      City                 ST
1                0:57:30   Matt           White            FiordiFrutta                                              Hadley               MA
2                0:57:32   Steve          Tilford          KCCX/Verge/Eriksen Cycles                                 topeka               KS
3                0:57:34   Jeremiah       Bishop           Trek/Volkswagon                                           Harrisonburg         VA
4                0:58:02   Jonny          Sundt            KBS/Medifast                                              Charlottesville      VA
5                0:58:13   Alec           Donahue          Joe's Garage                                              Hadley               MA
6                0:58:16   Charles        Pendry           Inland Construction - BTD                                 Hays                 NC
7                0:58:44   Weston         Schempf          C3-Sollay.com                                             Sinking Spring       PA
8                0:59:30   Jon            Hamblen          RGM WATCHES - RICHARD SACHS                               Winston Salem        NC
9                0:59:42   Jacob          Fetty            Myogenesis/TheBikeGame dot Com/HAMBLEN RULES              Athens               GA
10               0:59:45   Nathan         Wyatt            Carolina Fatz/Sram/Santa Cruz Bicycles