Bend, OR
Team: Jerome Townsend, Luke Keough, Shannon Morgan and Alister Ratcliff
Results: Luke Keough 4th as a first year U23
http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/usa-cycling-junior-u23-elite-road-national-championships-cn-1/day-4/results
This is one of the most looked forward to crit of the season for most riders under the age of 23. The course in the center of downtown Bend is a perfect one, dead flat and four corners. I had raced the race last year as a Junior and placed fourth just behind a break away of three. And with that result I had a call up this year. The gun shot rang out and the hundred and fifty U-23's were off. Now the field in this category is an interesting one, it is comprised of teams and many individuals, some of them pros. We had fifty six laps to complete of the 1.3 mile course. It is a four corner right hand crit and it had a head wind on the finish straight which meant opening up the sprint too early would guarantee someone getting a run on you.
The race was relatively fast and active. The Garmin team was not riding aggressive. Some of the guys were active but they weren't committed to a break. Livestrong on the other hand was hitting it off the front left and right. It just so happened that this paid off at ten to go with Ben King (Livestrong) another rider rode away and had thirty seconds. I was surprised that Garmin was not riding. At five to go Alister came up to me and brought me up to the front of the race and not only that but took me to second wheel. And he started riding the lead out at three to go. He sadly he had no help from any other teams. If I could have given him a pull without ruining my sprint I would have. He rode it down to one to go. On the back straight Nate Brown (Livestrong) went. On the last straight I was on Nate's wheel and he sat up. That’s when Justin Williams hit it and he had two guys on his wheel and I started my sprint closing the gap to the three in front of my and then hit it again passed the two on Justins wheel and barely didn't get by the Justin. We came very close to catching the break of two. If anyone gave Alister a pull we WOULD have caught the break. But we didn't and I end up fourth.
