It’s the middle of May and it seems it is time for my annual Lawson Craddock post. In all this screwed up stuff going on in the sport, there are good things going on too, with Lawson being one of them.

I can’t exactly remember the first race where Lawson caught my eye. It was definitely a race early spring down near Austin. Might of been Pace Bend, maybe Lago Vista. He did some phenomenal, powerful things and got onto my radar screen. I remember talking to Dave Wenger after the race about him and he said that he was a junior. He beat up the junior pretty good at the Junior Worlds and Junior Paris Roubaix. It was pretty obvious at the time that he was going to be pretty good. He’s better than that. Some of his results, at his bio at Bontrager.

I wrote this just last May. “A year ago in Laga Vista, Texas, it got down to a small group of us on Sunday. It was towards the end of the 85 mile race and Heath Blackgrove had shelled us. There were only 5 of us left. Stefan Roth, Andrew Dalheim, Christian Helmig, me and Lawson. Lawson put in a crazy hard dig at the top of the hill. So hard that he nearly shelled everyone. The thing about it was that he was sitting on his seat. It is steep, probably close to 15% and he was attacking us seating while we all we going 100% off our seats. He went a little too hard, as it ended up, because Stefan countered and he, Christian and I rode away from the other two. But, that isn’t the point. The point is the guy has unbelievable power on his seat.”

Last year he won the hardest stage at the Tour of Gila, the Gila Monster. Then he went on to have a unbelievable showing at the Tour of California. This year he rode better in California. He won the young rider’s competition and was climbing with some pretty select guys. Even attacking them on the hills when maybe he should of be following. But, that is the sign of someone that has more potential. Why not? I applaud it.

Anyway, I recognized his power early on, but didn’t expect him to be able to climb like he does. Like I wrote above, I have almost never been attacked by a rider who doesn’t even stand to accelerate. It rattled me pretty good, especially since he was so young. He’s been racing bikes since he was 10 and still seems to love it. He’s in it for the long run.

His results have made sure that he is going to get an opportunity to show case his abilities on the big stage. It’s a good time in the sport of cycling for him to be doing just that. We’re going to be seeing a lot of him over the next few years. It should be fun to watch.

Lance actually got at least one thing right back in 2010, when he posted on twitter-“Remember the name Lawson Craddock…”

Lawson tweeted about me a couple years ago. There ain’t going to be much beating him by me anymore.

He won the best young rider classification last week at the Tour of California by 15 minutes over 2nd.

A little hot after finishing in Palm Springs.

He could have used a little tactical advise on sprinting on the track, but he probably has that down by now too.

Last night was a short night. Less than 5 hours sleep. I have no idea where time goes now. I got up with Trudi at 6:45 this morning. She headed to the airport at 7:30 to fly to Pro Road Nationals. Then it was non-stop the whole day and I barely got the stuff done by 2 am. I’m either moving slower than I used to or have a ton more stuff to do.

Anyway, I’m driving up to Burlington, Iowa for a 95 mile road race at 3:15. It used to be 81 miles, but they changed the course a little. I believe it is supposed to be dry there this afternoon, but the forecast is for rain the next three days, which are all criteriums, with tomorrow being Snake Alley.

I’m in this for the fitness, not the results, so I’m going to do what I can do and nothing more. I’ve done these races many times before and they all have a certain flow about them. Newt, the promoter of Snake Alley, is going to give me shit for not per-registating. I looked two nights ago and planned to register, but couldn’t find my wallet for a credit card number, then yesterday, the registration was closed. There were something like 126 guys registered in the Pro 1/2 race. That is a ton of riders for that course. Especially if it rains. I won it on my first attempt, partly because it was raining the whole day.

It’s a solo trip of just Bromont and I. Keith and Catherine might drive up for Snake Alley later today or tomorrow. I’m staying in Burlington tonight, then moving over to Davenport and staying with my friend Jeff Bradley. I’m not sure if Jeff is racing this afternoon or not. I’d better call and find out.

Okay, have to get moving. I’m already beat and the trip hasn’t even started yet. Hope that isn’t a bad sign?

I spent most of the morning over at physical therapy messin’ with my shoulder. I had to sit in a corner in my shorts while I was getting some medicine electrically driven into my shoulder muscle. I took this picture because I wanted to know if I looked as bad as I felt. I did.

I put a road bike together this afternoon. It seemed to take forever. I had to take a bunch of parts off one of my cross bikes. I hate doing that.

After going for a short ride, I spent the rest of the night pounding and prying the back quarter panel of Bill’s car so I could reattach the tail light I fixed. I’m getting the car from Bill and taking it up to Ames, Iowa for Michael. Actually, the new plan is that Bill drives it there today on the way up to Minneapolis to race with Brian.