Adam's Take On Harlem
If you haven’t seen it already:
http://velonews.com/articl
My favorite part of those photos is me getting ready to put my hands up after leading Eric out when I realized he was going to win, and then having to put them back down to avoid not running him over.
The original plan was for Andy, Jon, Stoop, and Jackie to hit it all day long. We wanted to be aggressive, because we knew that Rock Racing had the biggest team, the fastest sprinters, and the responsibility to do the lead out at the finish. We were going to save Eric and me for the sprint, with the guys leading me out with Eric sweeping. The guys were amazing; they were crushing it all day, making every move, winning primes, and forcing other teams to go after us. At one point I sprinted for a $250 prime and got completely smoked by Rahsaan. At that point I realized that while I was feeling strong, I probably didn’t have the speed to win, and I was going to try to hit out early for Eric. I went with a few moves, and then linked up with Eric at about 10 laps to go when Rock put all 8 of it’s guys on the front.
With only 3 guys in the race, Toshiba did a good job of riding parallel to Rock’s train, with Mark Heckman riding probably 8 of those last 10 laps in the wind for Falcon and Travieso. It was really impressive. I tucked in behind them, which allowed me to ride equal with the back of Rock’s train with Eric on my wheel. Hammy came up and took a pull which kept is in the action, too. At times we got a little swarmed by Hopkins, Dominguez, or Borrajo, but Eric and I were often able to split up, jump around, and come back together at the back of Rock’s train.
Going into 1 to go I shouted back to Eric to make sure he was still there, and when I go the A-OK I started to hit out. Rock was just not going fast enough, and they had left too many guys for the last lap. I was able to attack up the left side of their train through the first corner, and at the second corner I was able get into 3rd wheel with Magnell and Rodriguez in front of me, Eric behind me in 4th, and Rahsaan and Justin Williams behind him battling with Dominguez and Borrajo for wheels. It couldn’t have gone more perfectly.
Going into the 3rd turn, Magnell skipped his pedal and almost took Freddy and me down. It caused us all to pause for a second, but he got his act together and took back over. Freddy came around going into the last corner, with Eric and I in 2nd and 3rd wheel. Freddy went to the right fence and I followed, hoping Eric was coming around to the left. Some tried to slide through on my right, I think it was Borrajo, and I shut the door, until I realized Eric was coming through on that side as well. I shifted back to the left just enough to let Eric through, and moved back over to make sure no one else came through on his wheel.
From there Eric was amazing. He punched through the gap like he was riding around cones in a parking lot. At 50 meters I realized he was a half bike length ahead and we were actually going to win. I started to put my hands up as he crossed the finish line, and, well, you know the rest.
Embedding was disabled for these videos, so you gotta go watch them and come back. The second one is great because you can see me bringing Eric up as we hit one to go!
Still, it was a spectacular win at a historic event. It was huge for the team on a day where every rider contributed, and it was a big day for Eric. I’m sure he’ll be nursing his wounds all week, but he’s got a nice trophy to comfort him.
posted by Jered at
12:34 PM
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