Trent Wilson

G’day,

After Tour Georgia the five day rest we had went pretty quickly. Before I knew it, Hoppy and I were back in the mini and back in Athens, Georgia for the post Georgia crits… The US Criterium series.

 

On our arrival to Athens, it had an unusual buzz then it normally does. There were people everywhere and lots of bike riders. Hoppy and I wasted no time going to the Karma Salon ( a Jittey Joes sponsor) arvo Barbie (as Aussie as the yanks are going to be). With cold beer, a hot Barbie, models and sun out it was a perfect afternoon.

 

Saturday night it was back down to business and at 9pm we started the infamous Athens Twilight criterium. The night before I went to a seminar/panel function and kept getting bombarded with questions or more like statements on how hard the Athens Twilight crit was. I just thought it was another bike race….. The build up was huge and sure the crowd was big, at least 20,000 drunken uni students to watch the event, it was a great buzz. I didn’t have great legs and after winning a sprint priem and having a few digs up the road I thought about pulling the pin as my legs were smashed. I hug in and went on to lead Hoppy out for the bunch kick, although I lost him with 1.5 laps to go. I had to have a crack myself and ended up 6^th, Hop coming in 14^th.

 

The next night was Roswell criterium. With a quarter of the crowd, but double the money, work that one out? There was a break up the road for the majority of the race and we had no one in it, so it was up to us and Healthnet to bring it back. After Pete and I pulled a few big turns I called it a day with a few laps to go and Hoppy ended up 3^rd.

 

We then had two days off and I needed them, I had bad hay fever, sore legs and needed sleep. I enjoyed every minute of the two days off. We even got a chance to fit a team game of golf in, very funny.

 

Next stop was South Carolina, and the criterium was Waltersboro. I had real bad legs in this one but still managed to get amongst it. The whole team rode well together and got in every move all night. I got Hoppy on the wheel with 10 laps to go and coming down the back straight I hit out taking him into the last corner third wheel. Hoppy then drag raced the others to finish third.

 

The next night was the Greenwood criterium, and my legs were far from better. I had no kick what so ever and when I attacked it was as if I was in slow motion. I was hating every minute of it. To make maters worse it was a really dangerous finish and I had to take a lot of risks to lead Hoppy out. Also when your not traveling as good, the gaps are smaller and wind feels stronger. I had nothing and had to leave Hoppy with half a lap to go, he ended up 7^th.

 

Spartenberg was the next stop and after setting an all time park up record in the coffee shop, 5hrs 20mins it started raining. We had to book out of our hotel in Greenwood early so that meant kickin around in a brew shop for hours. Three coffees, lunch, a biscotti, a game of slang scrabble, a lot of emails later we started racing… well the boys did, I took  an RDO. Way too dangerous and wet for me. From the VIP tent the race looked tough and Hoppy finished 15^th, with a few of the other boys in the top 30.

 

Finally after a week of being on the road we finished off with Aniston crtierium, Alabama. I was not too motivated and when our DS Jesse, rocked up, and told me how I looked, it backed up how I felt. Though once I through the leg over the bike I felt better. I got away with another rider for about 30 laps and picked up a few sprint priems before getting caught. 10 laps later, Richard England and I had another go to try and get across to Rapinski who was off the front solo. 10 laps later we were caught. I tried to give Hoppy a hand but didn’t have the legs. Pete Hatton was there to lend a hand and Hoppy once again finished third and Pete rolled in for a top 10.

 

Overall it was a good week, Hoppy finished fifth overall and I was 17^th which is interesting seeing I finished in the points twice. Now we have a three week break before we head to Philli week.

Cheers Willo

2 comments

G’day,

I remember back to January when I had a break after the Nationals and Bay crits before building back up on the km’s before coming to the states. Everyone was asking what I was doing. I gave them a “just relax, its January, I want to be going well in April”. Well April has arrived and past before you know it. That’s not a bad thing, I’m happy enough with the way things went and I did everything right in the build up to one of my major goals for the season, Tour de Georgia.

 

I did my big month block of km’s in Jan/Feb and arrived in the US going reasonably well. That combined with a lot of racing my form came up well and I think couldn’t have gone into the tour feeling anything but confident. What I meant by my previous comments is now that Aprils over, what do I look at next as a major objective? For me it’ll be Philli week and Tour Beause in June. Sure I’ll be going into every other race motivated but they’re the next two races I want to aim for.

 

So Tour Georgia turned out to be alright, but not brilliant. I was really aiming to ‘shock a few’ last week. I finished 20^th overall and three times in the top 20 in stage finishers which is good but like I said I was looking for something special.

 

The first two stages were long road stages finishing with short hilly local laps, both ending in bunch kicks. The first day we had Neill Shirley in the break for 90km and coming into the finish I attacked on the last climb on the last lap. I got brought back before getting caught up in a crash on the last corner. The second day I finished 14^th in a sprint, that was more of a drag race over the last climb, round two corners and to the finish. They split the bunch (and so they should) but changed it back to bunch time after so many complaints. So some old mate that was in 70^th position still climbing the hill as we’re finishing gets the same time, right!

 

The reason I needed those extra seconds is the third day was a 40km TT. Anyone that knows me knows I’m not a huge fan of these. It was hilly circuit with some technical sections, so it wasn’t as bad as it normally would be for me. I road within myself to finish 41^st, and couldn’t be too disappointed. I did what I wanted and limited my loses.

 

The next two days we hit the mountains and also bad weather. The first day ended up in a 50 up bunch kick after the group split to bits over the last climb but was still 30km to the finish. The second of the two days finished up the infamous Brasstown after two solid climbs earlier in the day. Brass town was the only climb I hadn’t seen because when Hoppy and I did our three day training block in the mountains we left it to the last, when our legs were smashed. We went to the coffee shop instead, although still had 150km in the legs. Anyway, it’s one steep climb and is as hard as they say. I finished 20^th in the stage and that moved me to 20^th on GC.

 

The last day was suppose to be a flatish roll into the finishing circuits. It was anything but flat and if you had a bad day, you would’ve felt every km of it. The circuits were controlled, the early break brought back and it was a bunch kick. Tour over and it was off to have a few quiet ones at the after party.

 

The other good thing about this week was, it was a great chance to catch up with mates from European team, Aussie and non-Aussie. It was great for the moral to have a few beers to unwind every night with Nick Gates, Henk Vogels and Sean Sullivan. I almost forgot how funny it was to be rolling along in the quieter times in the bunch sharing stories with Gatesy.

 

The last three days of the tour was when our team also throw a publicity stunt by changing our team kit to orange camo. It got a few mentions and actually looked pretty cool.

 

Since Georgia I have just been kicken back at home in Nashville. The legs nailed for the first four days after the tour and I spent a lot of couch time in between coffee shop rides and a round of golf.

 

Today I arrived back in Athens for tomorrows Athens Twilight criterium. There’s a lot of talk about the race and how big the crowd is and how hard it is. With a 9pm start in the main streets of this uni town, it should be interesting. I was happy to hear this arvo that all the riders that rode Georgia have sore legs too and have also struggled to get off the lounge.

 

This week we have the US crit’s, six criteriums in eight days, then back to Nashie for two weeks before hitting the road again.

Cheers Willo

 

 

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