Alexey Vermeulen is back with a report on his summer season since Pro Road Nats back in May. This report highlights the balance of life activities he's maintained and how the entire experience of racing can shift from one weekend (Leadville) to the next (SBT).
I am back with a recap email mainly from SBT GRVL, but also where I have been since we left off in May at the US PRO Road Nationals. After May 20th, I took a leave of absence from racing (missing out on Unbound) and went to my brother's Bachelor Party in New Orleans and then his wedding the next week at home in Michigan. Honestly, I had fomo watching Unbound from afar, but I was also very stoked to have had a great start to the season having focused so hard on coming out strong in April. There were no wins, but a 2nd at Sea Otter Classic, a 2nd at BWR CA and a 7th (TT) and 5th (RR) at US PRO was more than I expected, but only could have been bettered by a win somewhere in there.
Now here is where it went from a small hiatus to feeling like I was MIA. After the wedding I caught the beloved Covid for the first time...I had planned to jump back in the deep end racing FNLD GRVL, but had to take another 10 days of recovery before slowly building back. I came into July excited to race Tushar in the Crushar before wildfires decided that wouldn't be possible.
Once Tushar was cancelled I headed to Europe to support Sophie as she built into her first Olympics in Paris. I was motivated to train, but nervous about how Leadville would play out preparing at sea level. Having the best of times in France, Avery and I landed back in CO around 1am on Thursday and I spent Thursday afternoon riding in the rain up at 10,000 ft in an attempt to prepare for Leadville in less than 48hours. It was the least amount of time possible to race Leadville, but also plenty of time to make it. In the end, Leadville was a really tough day. I had aspirations to at least enjoy it, but I really just suffered through just to finish. I drove back to Boulder Saturday night and spent the next week trying to find my legs again before SBT.
SBT GRVL
On Wednesday we drove to Steamboat and I prepared for one last big weekend before a small break. SBT is a massive weekend for everyone, but this year I piled the plate high adding From the Ground Up (FTGU) to my list of responsibilities. It was a lot, but honestly also allowed me to not focus too much on my last race and how I felt.
SBT kicked off with another spectacular HLL CLMB Friday night where it felt like people finally realized what it was all about... and nearly everyone was in costume. I rode with a 1980's tandem with a dual crown fork with Meg Fisher again, this year dressing up as Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce with Willie dressed as a football. This crazy night set the mind right and was a great leg opener! It is hard to pedal a tandem up 15% grades!
Saturday was filled with saying hi to Willie's fams and working on FTGU bikes before eating as much pasta as possible and sleeping 4 hours.
Sunday I woke up at 3:15 and started eating overnight oats, thankfully prepared by Sophie, I had no energy to make anything. My bike was ready and I was mentally prepared for battle. The SBT GRVL course had changed a lot, what was once champagne gravel was seemingly replaced by a majority of rough and loose terrain, only hitting asphalt three times.
The course was 125 miles, 11,800 ft of climbing and once we pre rode, it was quite obvious the selection would be made less than 1/3 of the way in on Wahooligan hill – a 4.5 mile stair step climb that included a mile over 10% with punches above 15%. I spent the first 20 miles to the base of the climb focusing on great position and then spent the beginning of the climb not overriding. Once over the top there was a group of 5 riders off the front (Keegan Swenson, Paul Voss, Eric Brunner, Payson McElveen, and Cam Jones) over the top before Pete Stetina, myself and Toby joined in around mile 31 into the race.
Eventually Keegan and Paul rode away and it became a slow painful chase behind. Our group started splintering as Payson and Eric fell off the pace. Next Pete started to climb away and we were left racing for 4th with Cam, Toby and myself. As we started to descend Cam flatted and Toby and I rode steadily towards the high point motivated to catch Pete and a slowing Paul on the downhill/flat sections back towards town with the chance of getting a podium spot. After chasing for about 20 minutes we were caught by a flying Brendan Johnston and Daan from behind before hitting the last long climb of the day. Our group completely reset around here with Paul and Daan going off the back leaving Pete, Brendan, Toby and myself to race for 2nd.
We worked well together all the way to the end and I decided to lead out the sprint early from about 3 corners and more than 400meters out. I sprinted well, but Toby got me on the line. It wasn't how we planned it but it was quite funny to still end up on the podium with him after racing for 4th most of the day.
I used to always think the phrase, "You are only as good as your last race" was created by people talking about athletes and their triumphs and failures - but I have come to believe it is a phrase created by athletes who mentally overcome a day they cannot explain. Sometimes the sum of work doesn't equal the result and the positivity of that phrase comes from refocusing on a new race as a new chance to rewrite your history. All the hours focusing and training cannot guarantee your body is ready to race each time you line up - and sometimes that is really difficult to cope with.
I was really proud to put together a great weekend after a very sub par weekend in Leadville, a 3rd place I am more proud of then even winning other events last year.
To cap off the weekend: From the Ground Up was a massive success. Our riders, who started riding officially in March, took on the same course as me, the Black Course, with 3 of 4 finishing! Not going to lie, I was a bit emotional Sunday night – I will blame it on the lack of sleep.
