Road Cycling Season Ends With Nationals

The course was rough, the day hot, and the pace fast for cyclists at this year's Road Nationals in Lawrence, KS. The men's time trial team of Mark Smelser, Brad Sullivan, Rich Shurtz and Chad Clark kicked events off on Friday as they competed against the best collegiate teams across the nation. The Wildcats placed 16th among the 23 Division I teams participating. For Saturday's road race around Perry Lake, things would not get better for many teams. Due to flooding on the original route, officals decided to reroute the course over a 2 mile stretch of gravel road which caused more flat tires than the support vehicles could handle.

In the Division I women's road race, Lisa Gerber was involved in an incident on the backside of the 56 mile course that nearly brought her down. Another rider came unclipped from her pedals and got her cleat in the gearing causing Gerber to stop eventually costing her her place in the field. Adding insult to injury as she tried to finish the race alone, she flatted on the altered gravel section of the course on lap 2 shortly after a stop for mechanical help from her team in the feed zone about 6 miles earlier. Support from wheel vehicles never came as she was not in the peleton and was forced to abandon the race.

The day was not much better for the men. Quickly learning from the women's race, officials decided to make the men's start "neutral" until beyond the gravel section, where again the scene was decribed as "choking dust" as the field of over 100 riders made their way through the technical stretch of gravel road. "It sounded like a shooting range with all the tires popping" many riders said. KSU's Shurtz hit a soft dirt filled pothole that brought him down during the neutral start. The pack was stopped at the end of the gravel section and allowed to regroup, fix flattened tires, and Shurtz received medical and mechanical assistance before the restart from teammate Chad Clark, who was not riding in the race. After the restart, the men were on their way in the 84 mile race which had a number of attacks and breaks, each chased down by the peleton. Smelser performed well, staying right in the middle of the pack for most of the day miraculously avoiding flats and crashes that plagued so many other riders. With about 10 miles to go a group of 4 riders broke away and built a sizable lead but the peleton cut it down to about 30 seconds when Alex Boyd (Midwestern State University) realized the other riders in the break sat up acknowledging they were caught and attacked the break which enabled him to solo in for the victory and his first National Championship. Smelser would finish 24th in the pack sprint, Shurtz came in 68th of the 81 riders finishing the competition.

The criterium did not fare well for many of the Wildcats. Gerber, who has battled asthma all season long, could do nothing to prevent an unfortunate attack shortly after the race began which ended her hopes of a national title. Shurtz and Sullivan both dropped from the criterium as well leaving teammate Mark Smelser to fend for himself in the huge field. With speeds averaging over 30 mph, the men raced for about 40 minutes until any real break was sustained by a group of 8 riders, including last year's omnium champion Mark Hardman (University of Virginia). Smelser acted on the opportunity with about 25 minutes left in the race. While the breakaway was only leading by fifteen seconds, he bridged the gap and made the breakaway in very little time (the pace of the pack at the time was about 2:11/lap). Once Smelser joined the breakaway, the pack would only gain two seconds on them the rest of the race, and that would come only on one lap. With 12 laps to go, the break had sustained their lead at 25 seconds over the pack. It was from this point forward the leaders would go to work and forge an insurmountable lead that took the rest of the peleton only 6 laps to realize they were uncatchable. Smelser and Co. would see their lead increase by 5 seconds each lap from than point forward, eventually coming down to the sprint between the 10 riders with all finishing nearly a minute ahead of the pack. Smelser would finish 10th in the criterium, the event which he had championed exactly one year ago, as Phil Mann (Colorado State University) would become the new criterium champion. "I allowed a gap in there between me and another guy and spent a little too much time in the wind on the last lap" Smelser said of his finish. "It was fast". Fans watching the races Sunday could only agree. With a top 10 finish in the event, Smelser proved his win last year was no fluke. "It's kind of a confirmation that I was up there in the lead group so it makes me feel better about last year's win" he said. Anyone that has watched him race criteriums this year had no doubt.

In the omnium, Hardman would repeat as National Champion, Smelser finished 13th overall. Ironically, as Hardman was being crowned National Champion, his bike was stolen.

For complete results please visit USA Cycling.

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