The Beginning of Something Great

With eyes set on the 2024 season, our pilot squad of riders decided to "don the black" and race the remainder of the 2023 season under the Mustangs banner.

Louis Chandler, Matthew Bratcher, Matthew Manley, and myself decided that no better race would suit our first appearance as a team than the series that brought us together: the final race of the 2023 Music City Criterium Series.

Music City has been hosted by Michael Edens and Nashville Local Cycling for years and has been paramount in the building of the local racing community in the Middle-Tennessee area, though on any given week, riders from across the state (and state lines) will travel to line up for a unique racing experience on the old Nashville Fairgrounds Motor Speedway.

This particular event was special. Not only was the event set to be the last of the year for the series, but holds high potential to be the last ever held on the speedway due to a buy-out and renovation project planned for the fall potentially hindering any further use of the location for a local race series.

With that in mind, we set out to achieve a goal that we thought far stretched for our first event as a team: podium sweep the Cat 3s. While this goal was lofty, we were able to practice a few key components that proved both necessary and fruitful -- communication, audibles, and patience.

Early in the race, Bratcher and Manley took the front as work horses to cover moves while I protected Louis in the pack. About a quarter of the way in, Manley cycled to rest and I noticed that Bratcher was putting in effort overtime at the front - AUDIBLE! Moving to the front to assist, we continued our ability to cover moves and keep pace.

In the last five laps, a move went off the front with 3 riders. Now, typically, in any big race this would set off alarm bells but on the "kidney bean" course at Music City, it all comes down to rider composition of the break and timing. While there was no initial response to the attack, anxiety grew as lap cards ticked down and a gap still remaining. At 2 laps to go, Manley assisted by a rider from another team placed a massive effort to close ground on the break away.

The final lap. The riders off the front maintained pace and effort, though the final lap of Music City (regardless of Kidney Bean or 180 course) is always incredibly fast. Coming through the start finish and around the initial corner, one after the other called "I'm here" letting one another know that we were set up in the train and ready to execute. Bratcher launched a massive effort on the back stretch of the course with the break away riders only a matter of seconds ahead - and this is where things got hairy.

In a matter of seconds (what felt like hours) a series of events occurred that is best described with a few words; learning, luck, and line selection. As we caught the break away riders on the back stretch in the lead-out train, one of the riders from the break came out of the saddle in a last ditch effort to stay in the fight. When doing so, he moved outward causing Bratcher to tap his breaks and adjust line. Now at 30+ miles per hour, any tap of the breaks can cause mass surging or a benefit to anyone following the train. Myself, being second in the train, made contact with Bratcher's wheel and unclipped to stay upright. In a matter of about a second, I reclipped in and was out of the saddle to regain the wheel.

Now what really matters - what about our protected guy? Louis recognized the incident and immediately shifted outward to pass, but not before Nashville Local rider Dylan Chamberlain (Cat 4) came around in an effort to take advantage of the blunder. Louis momentarily slotted back in behind Bratcher as we entered the final chicane, then moved back out to take an advancing Chamberlain's wheel going into the final corner.

Seeing this move, I knew I had riders on my wheel and that I needed to protect the inside. I called out to Bratcher, letting him know to push wide so I could take the inside line. #ClosetheDoor

Exiting the final corner, Chamberlain and Chandler sprinted it out into a bike throw finish with myself having accelerated just feet behind Louis' wheel. A few bike lengths behind, Bratcher managed to exit his saddle and take 3rd in the 3s and 4th overall even after his massive effort on the back stretch of the last lap.

Learning: While yes, we took the Cat 3s podium, Chamberlain finished with a strong top 2 overall with the Mustangs sweeping 3 of the 4 top overall places. It's always easy to look at things in retrospect, but what would (or should) we have done differently? On the back stretch, taking a line further outside the break being caught would have prevented the blunder, perhaps at a cost of a less efficient line. Line selection of our #1 in the train through the final chicane could be another factor.

Of all things, the greatest learning experience is that communication is paramount and that you have to be willing to adjust and adapt as a team. Every team and every rider has a strategy. Bike racing is inevitably a game of chess on wheels, but a fun one at that.