Back to Augusta

It had been a long time - 28 years to be exact - since I'd been to Augusta, but memories of the road course at Fort Gordon and the criterium in the old part of the city along the Savannah River were still fresh in my mind. I'd had a couple of really good races, along with one mechanical disaster, when I'd been there for the USCF Master's Nationals with Mike Lew, Mike Williams, and a couple other teammates. This time it would be for the USAC Collegiate Road Nationals, supporting Tulane's Julia Simpson and alumnus Gavin Blair who was now riding for Maryland where he's in graduate school. I'd be taking my bike, and although I wasn't expecting to get in much riding, I was hoping to be able to check out the road course that was essentially identical to the one I'd raced on back during the Clinton administration. Over the years that course has been used for numerous national championships.

Julia - TT

As usual, collegiate nationals was scheduled basically on top of everyone's final exams. Dustin had an exam in the morning on Wednesday right before we planned to leave. Julia had one on Monday afternoon, maybe twelve hours after we expected to be back. On the plus side, the weather forecast for Augusta couldn't have been much better. We met up at HQ, aka University Square, around 2 pm to load up the nice big Tulane van. With only three of us in a 12-passenger van (with the last two seat rows removed) we had plenty of space for bikes, spare wheels, tools, tent, chairs, trainer, cooler, etc., etc. The nine-hour drive was long but uneventful, and we arrived at a nice Airbnb not far from the base at a reasonable hour. Gavin had driven down from College Park and arrived ahead of us. For Thursday the plan was to go get our credentials for Fort Gordon and check out the road course. Despite what they warned about in the technical guide, all we really needed was a driver's license to feed into the kiosk in the visitor center, which then spit out a little slip of paper with your photo on it. When we arrived at the start location on Thursday morning I was a little surprised to see so many of the collegiate team vans, busses, and trailers there doing the same thing. It was kind of cool, though. We pulled the bikes out and headed out for a lap of the 15-mile loop. After so many years, I was surprised how well I remembered it. The only difference was that it looked like it had been repaved within the last few years, so almost the entire course was on just the smoothest, fastest, most pristine asphalt you could imagine. Your tax dollars at work, indeed. 

The first six miles of the course feature two or three significant climbs, after which it becomes more rolling. Then, a couple of kilos from the finish, there's a nice downhill to a little creek crossing that you can hardly tell is there, after which a one-kilometer climb begins that tops out about 300 meters from the finish line. The climb and finish were still quite firmly burned into my memory, and I could still identify the spot where I shifted into my biggest gear, which back then was probably a 52x13, to start the sprint, only to have the chain wedge itself between the freewheel and dropout, leaving me to coast across the finish line as the entire race streamed past. Anyway, I really enjoyed the ride around the course and trip down memory lane. The rest of the day involved a trip to the grocery store where Chef Dustin loaded up on about twice as much food as I probably would have.

The announcer was saying "This guy really left it all on the course."

Time Trial:  Friday featured the time trial, which was an out-and-back affair on the road course. Julia and Gavin were both in the Club division (collegiate is divided into Club and Varsity), so would be starting reasonably close together in the early afternoon following the team time trials. They had one aero helmet between them and planned on swapping it from Julia to Gavin once Julia finished. It was going to be kind of tight, timing-wise, though. Fortunately it worked out, and Gavin strapped on his helmet just moments before his start, much to the consternation of one of the officials. Julia finished 11th out of 30, and Gavin followed that up by placing an excellent 8th out of 42. Patton Sims made the podium in that race, finishing 4th. earlier in the day Lance Abshire's Colorado Mesa team had won the Varsity Team Time Trial. It was a pretty good day for LAMBRA riders.

Julia comes up the Road Race hill past our tent. At least they had a little tailwind for this climb.

Road Race:  The Road Races were on Saturday with Julia's going off in the first wave and Gavin's in the second. Julia's mother had joined us for the Time Trial and Julia's father and sister would be there for the Road Race and Criterium. We arrived nice and early and parked the van at a flat spot in the feed zone, about 2/3 of the way up the final climb. USAC had the finish line area all set up with the barricades and banners and official's trailer and everything, which is always impressive. I got to say hello to Valecia who we often deal with for event permits. It was windy, but the temperature was perfect for racing. We set up the tent and stuff and I had just enough time to sneak in a quick ten miles before heading up the hill to watch the start. Julia was focused on staying with the lead group and hoping to be able to do something in the final sprint. That would not be easy on this course since the climb always strings out the pack before anyone even gets to the 200 meter mark. Gavin, however, had other plans. During the race Julia was looking good, holding a mid-pack position on the climbs. Her race didn't look like it was particularly aggressive, though, and so although they lost a number of rider from simple attrition, there were still at least 20 left for the final sprint up the hill to the finish. Julia ended up 12th out of 25. 

Gavin's field comes up the hill past the feed zone.

Gavin's race had a big field of 55 at the line, so I knew it would be fast. It was. With little confidence in his sprint on a course like this, Gavin was all-in for a breakaway even if it had to be solo, which ultimately it was. Knowing the course, the best bet for a last-lap break was right after the bigger climbs in the first half of the course, and indeed he got away with about 8 miles to go. Unfortunately nobody came with him, so it was just a matter of whether he could build up enough of a gap to hold off the expected pack sprint that was bound to start a kilometer out. As it turned out he was able to hold off the charging pack until maybe 300 meters before the line but then got streamed by the sprinters, finishing 31st out of 55. It was a noble and very impressive ride and I think he was happy with it even if the ultimate placing didn't really reflect the magnitude of the effort. Looking at the results I noticed a rider from Indiana named Grace Saccone and figured it had to be Tom Saccone's daughter. Tom had raced here for a while in the 80's, notably winning the French Quarter criterium in 1989. He had been coaching the Indiana women's Little 500 team for a number of years but last I'd heard he was involved with his daughter's soccer. In the Varsity Road Race, Lance Abshire and a teammate had a solid breakaway, finishing first and second with Patton Sims finishing third. Lance and Patton are both from Louisiana, so that was kind of nice to see.

Criterium: Sunday's criterium was a nice little rectangle, about a block offset from the course I'd ridden back in '94. Since then they had built a nice kind of park / entertainment area that spanned the course from the start/finish to the back side where we set up our tent on the neutral ground of Broad Street, just past turn #2. As in the road race, the Club Women would be going first. I was a little surprised how cool it was - around 58° - so I pulled out my rain jacket, which was the only thing I had with long sleeves. Julia's race was 70 minutes. 

In the final laps Julia moved up near the front.

Kind of like the road race, the group stayed pretty much intact for the whole race. Julia was mostly staying sheltered in the back half of the field, which made us nervous every time there'd be an attack, but as it turned out she had everything under control. As planned, she was hoping for a pack sprint, and with a field of only 26 and a nice wide 4-corner course with long straights it wouldn't be too difficult to move around when necessary. The race did indeed come down to a 31 mph pack sprint and we were thrilled to see Julia come across the line in a solid 5th place, earning herself one of those big medals and a podium photo. Right behind her was Grace Saccone. I wasn't sure if I'd recognize Tom if I saw him, but later in the day I saw some Indiana riders talking and asked if he was there. One of them said, "No, but his daughter is right here." So I did get to chat with Grace for a minute and explain why some old guy from New Orleans knew her father.  

Part of Gavin's field along the back stretch.

Gavin's race was next, and with a field of 51 I knew it was going to be fast and aggressive. It was, with an average speed of 27.8 mph for the 80-minute race and a top speed of 35.9 mph on a pancake-flat rectangle. As in the road race, Gavin was hoping for a breakaway, but also as in the road race the big field wasn't really letting anything go very far before chasing it down. After a few futile attempts, Gavin settled in around mid-pack waiting for an opportunity. 

Gavin launches an attach with one to go!

Well sometimes you have to make your own opportunities and when things came down to 2 laps to go and at least 31 riders were still together there was only one option left. He worked his way to the front and as they were ringing the bell for the final lap he launched. It's a classic and time-honored move that always makes the sprinters hesitate, but it's also a roll of the dice. He flew down the back stretch at 30 mph but he was kind of a marked man from his solo attack in the road race and although he'd gotten a decent enough gap it wasn't quite enough to hold off the sprinters on the long drag race from the final corner to the finish line. 

Always throw you bike, even if it's for 22nd place!

Still, he ended up 22nd out of 51, and if there had been a "most aggressive" prize for the weekend he'd have won it hands-down. We had to wait around until after the final race - the Varsity Men where Lance finished 5th - for the awards ceremony, so it was late afternoon by the time we finally rolled out of Augusta. 

A championship podium and one of the big medals!

Fortunately, I was well-rested for the 9 hours on the road, aided only by two Red Bulls. We unloaded stuff at HQ a bit after midnight and Julia dropped me off at home around 12:30 before returning the van to campus and heading home herself. It was a really fun long weekend and I was happy I'd finally been able to go.

Waiting for the awards as Lance Abshire rolls past in the Varsity Criterium.

Photos at https://photos.app.goo.gl/oj3ViH3A59uhoUto9