Race Report by:  Addy Albershardt

I traveled to the U.S.A. Cycling Elite/U23/Juniors Road National Championships in Bend, OR to compete during the week of June 22 to 27.

I was really excited to come to nationals, I didn’t have high expectations coming into the week because it was my first nationals, but I did want to at least podium.  All year I have been training really hard.  Going to the mountains several times a month because we don’t have any mountains in Charlotte, NC and I would train on my time trial bike two to three times a week.  This was my first trip to the west coast and I heard great things about Bend, Oregon.  When I first arrived in Bend, it was really dry and cold and I thought that I was going to have a hard week because of the weather.  Luckily the week we were in Bend was the nicest week that Bend has had all year, so I guess we got lucky.  

Tuesday, June 22 (Road Race)  The course was a 5k circuit around a hilly golf course and 30 strong girls began the race.  The first two laps were slow and cat and mouse games were played.  The speed would go from 10 mph to 30 mph.  On the 3rd lap a gap of seven got away due to a technical, fast corner.  I knew right away that the gap would turn into a break, so I decided to bridge the gap; one other rider went with me.  The gap turned into two minutes and I didn’t this we could bridge up.  Slowly the two minute gap reduced and with about two miles to go we caught the break.  The finish was down hill into a sharp right turn with a 100 meter home straight.  Going through the corner there was a crash that I got caught behind and I finished 7th out of the 9.

Wednesday, June 23 (Criterium)  The course was flat, very technical with technical turns; it was just under 1k long with seven turns.  The race started fast from the line with 30 girls starting.  Averaging around 25-28 mph attacks and counter attacks were happening all night.  I finished 11th.

Thursday, June 24 (Individual Time Trial)  Today was the big day, I love to time trial and I would say its one of my strengths.  The course begun with four-turns to get out of Summit High School, after the turns was an upgrade going out some spots were, 10% grade, and at the seven-mile turn around.  After the turn around, the rest was downhill, literally.  I knew to go all out on the way out and give it anything I had left coming back.  9 seconds was the difference between me and the gold medal.  I was very happy to get 2nd place because this was my very first nationals and I had a not-so-lucky week, so it was nice to finish the week off on the podium for the race of the truth.

The first morning I raced, I was really nervous because I didn’t know what to expect.  The average number of girls for the races was about 30 and I thought that there was going to be less girls than that, I also thought that the competition was going to be really difficult but really a lot of girls got dropped from all the races.  And there were no race tactics between teams because everyone wants to win.  I met new girls that live all over the country and we all became best friends really fast.  One of the best things during the week was in Bend there is a frozen yogurt shop called “Cuppa Yo”.  The catchy name made the frozen treat taste even better with endless choices of toppings and all for a cheap price his is a place I wish was in Charlotte.  I am pretty sure that every racer that came through Bend went to Cuppa Yo.  This was a trip I would never forget.