Elkhorn Valley Cycling powered by Monster and Team Type 1 – Nebraska fielded a team of three riders at the Joe Martin Stage Race in Fayetteville, Arkansas on April 28-29, coming away with some battle scars and a top twenty finish.
Joe Savoie rallied in the criterium after a tough time trial and road race, picking up at least seven spots to finish inside the top 20.
Rich Anderson crashed in the road race while Sam Oakes had a good time trial but a little tough luck in the road race and crit.
We haven’t gotten a report from Joe but here are reports from Sam and Rich.
Sam Oakes had this to say:
Anyone who knows me knows that I “slightly” “obsess” over time trials. I paced myself poorly last year and ran out of gas about halfway up the climb. It was only by being extremely light that I could hold on to a sub 12 minute time on the 2.5 mile climb.
This year, I had a power meter on my side to avoid going out too hard. I had estimated that the time trial should take me about 12 minutes under proper pacing. I had been playing around with my power meter to set a 12 minute power that also factored in that I’d need to race later that day. I did a dry run on Friday to verify my power numbers, which put me at about 30 seconds faster than last year.
On race day, I felt very good and decided to race a little above the numbers I previously set, but tried to stay under 400w. I managed to be 50 seconds faster than last year with an average power of 281w (5.2w/kg) for the ~11 min effort. This got me 17th place. In such a talented field I was very happy with this result, especially since I typically do better in much longer individual time trials. Last year I questioned if I could even start the road race and this year I felt fine.
The road race didn’t go as well for me. As the field began to pick up the pace, I didn’t quite have an answer to the pace with the time trial in my legs. I began to lose the pack. I was able to climb at my own pace and started to close down a fairly substantial gap. I saw Rich on the side of the road by the wheel truck and decided to stop and try to work to see if I could catch him back on. It didn’t take long to see that his bike was done dealing. Not seeing that he crashed, I thought he had a flat and catching him on was better since Rich consistently does well in road races and crits. I lost the chance to catch up and burned too many matches. I was able to find small pockets of riders, but most were toast and couldn’t work with me. Had I not stopped, I might have finished with the bunch. I think this means we need could use a few more EVCC/TT1 riders at Joe Martin. 
Crits aren’t my specialty as is. After the tough races the day before, I was fairly spent. I couldn’t handle the start and was instantly gapped. I managed to ride up to a small chase pack and ride a few laps before being pulled. I joked that I was going to be pulled after the 1st lap, but managed to hang in there for a few more. My legs hurt so bad that I wasn’t upset to be pulled. I plan on working on my crit efforts for a few more crits later this season.
All in all, not a bad weekend. I should have done better in the road race, but hindsight is always 20/20. My primary goals were improving my time trial and getting some power data.
While Rich Anderson chimed in with:
Thursday time trial, not much to say here except that i need to improve my time trailing. My time was 12:13 about two minutes off of the leaders time.
Road race, my better discipline. The pace from the start was really slow. Fifty riders all bunched up, there were a few attacks and two riders (not together) off the front. There were a few surges, but nothing was happening. We hit the first serious climb (at the pro feed zone). This is a short steep climb that is not really that bad. The group takes this climb at a reasonable pace, i was wondering if it was the climb since it seemed fairly easy to me. Then after a quick decent i realized what was next. The longest climb of the day. Here the paced picked up and a few riders were “riding backwards” which made holding place a little hard. A few riders were not heeding the yellow line rule and going around that way. I survived this climb and was recovering. A little while later on a flat section of road i was taking a drink and the group slowed down. This put me into a riders back wheel and sent me to the ground along with a few other riders. I lay there for a bit while bikes and people detangle the mess. I get up trying to straighten out my shifters, the support ask if i need wheels. I say i need a new bike, they notice my rear derailleur is not in the right position, and my weekend is done. During this time Sam stops to check on me (thanks). I get my bike loaded on a following vehicle, the we speed down the road to catch back up to the group.
It was the first time i had that perspective on the race. As for my condition. Right elbow, scrapes. Minor scrapes on a few fingers. Hematoma on my right hip. A minor scrape on my right ankle. A six inch mark on my back, someone riding over me (not Kevin Murray this time).
Hopefully the bike is ok.