Since I have been here in Kutztown Pennsylvania I have only really been training and the closest thing I have done to racing is the local derby training race a couple of times a week. Well this weekend was the first chance for me to see how I was really going, with track racing on Friday and Criterium on Saturday night.
Track racing on the Friday never happened for me as my track bike didn’t turn up on time. That wasn’t exactly a bad thing as I was feeling pretty fried from training throughout the week. I went down to the track to help out Hayden and some of the NZ U23 riders that are in town. Track races for the night consisted of mile race with heats, a six lap Wheelrace and a 60 lap Madison. Hayden had a successful nights racing featuring dominantly in all races. Hayden paired up with NZ development rider Jason Christy in SUBWAY® – Avanti colours and rode into second in the Madison. Ending a good nights track racing.
Saturday, I had a short ride in the morning with a couple of efforts in there and actually felt pretty good which was nice.
Iron Hill Twilight Criterium - USA Crits series race, Hayden and I both had a call up for the start of the race which meant we started on the front row for the 60 lap 60km race. It was a fast four corner circuit false flat finish, down hill back straight up hill to the finishing straight. Hayden and I never ventured outside the top ten from the start covering attack after attack looking for the one break that would stay. Eventually after numerous break attempts I ended up in the right one consisting of six riders including Colavita, Garmin and Harley Davidson.
We got away just before the halfway point of the race, it was a long time off the front with all of us chasing to eventually lap the field. I felt really comfortable in the break and with less then six laps to go we managed to lap the field and this was when it got difficult.
When we got on the back of the hundred strong field there was a lot of tired guys losing wheels so moving up was very difficult. The bungy effect on this course is terrible, you have to really drive it hard out of the corners and then make sure guys don’t let wheels go in front of you. This happened five or six times to me and it took a lot of energy to make sure I stayed in touch and try move forward as much as possible. I lost touch with the break guys that lapped the field so I didn’t really know where I stood going into the final sprint.
The short amount of training I have done so far was starting to show, I was just hanging on for the last couple of laps passing people at every opportunity. I ended up crossing the line in 7th. I also managed to pick up a couple of midway primes. I was very happy with my result and the way Hayden and I rode the race for Subway with just the two of us was excellent. Hayden had an awesome ride at the front of the peloton while I was off the front keeping tabs on the attacks and impressively picking up four consecutive primes in the last 10 laps.
The whole nights racing was an awesome atmosphere with over 20,000 in the crowd and a lot of people all around the course cheering for subway being such a well known brand here in the US. We had no idea who they were but appreciated there support! It was fantastic.
Josh England
Track racing on the Friday never happened for me as my track bike didn’t turn up on time. That wasn’t exactly a bad thing as I was feeling pretty fried from training throughout the week. I went down to the track to help out Hayden and some of the NZ U23 riders that are in town. Track races for the night consisted of mile race with heats, a six lap Wheelrace and a 60 lap Madison. Hayden had a successful nights racing featuring dominantly in all races. Hayden paired up with NZ development rider Jason Christy in SUBWAY® – Avanti colours and rode into second in the Madison. Ending a good nights track racing.
Saturday, I had a short ride in the morning with a couple of efforts in there and actually felt pretty good which was nice.
Iron Hill Twilight Criterium - USA Crits series race, Hayden and I both had a call up for the start of the race which meant we started on the front row for the 60 lap 60km race. It was a fast four corner circuit false flat finish, down hill back straight up hill to the finishing straight. Hayden and I never ventured outside the top ten from the start covering attack after attack looking for the one break that would stay. Eventually after numerous break attempts I ended up in the right one consisting of six riders including Colavita, Garmin and Harley Davidson.
We got away just before the halfway point of the race, it was a long time off the front with all of us chasing to eventually lap the field. I felt really comfortable in the break and with less then six laps to go we managed to lap the field and this was when it got difficult.
When we got on the back of the hundred strong field there was a lot of tired guys losing wheels so moving up was very difficult. The bungy effect on this course is terrible, you have to really drive it hard out of the corners and then make sure guys don’t let wheels go in front of you. This happened five or six times to me and it took a lot of energy to make sure I stayed in touch and try move forward as much as possible. I lost touch with the break guys that lapped the field so I didn’t really know where I stood going into the final sprint.
The short amount of training I have done so far was starting to show, I was just hanging on for the last couple of laps passing people at every opportunity. I ended up crossing the line in 7th. I also managed to pick up a couple of midway primes. I was very happy with my result and the way Hayden and I rode the race for Subway with just the two of us was excellent. Hayden had an awesome ride at the front of the peloton while I was off the front keeping tabs on the attacks and impressively picking up four consecutive primes in the last 10 laps.
The whole nights racing was an awesome atmosphere with over 20,000 in the crowd and a lot of people all around the course cheering for subway being such a well known brand here in the US. We had no idea who they were but appreciated there support! It was fantastic.
Josh England
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