Matrix Challenge Race Report P/B Bikemart.com

This is a race report from the Matrix Challenge Sunday win by none other than the great Michael "Brownie" Brown. Proudly presented by Richardson Bike Mart.

After the Price/Burke 1-2 finish on Saturday there was only one question that needed to be answered. Who was going to step up and be THAT rider for Sunday. Well, crits are not like road races...or are they?. In a RR it's easy to have a protected rider and everyone just works to keep that rider out of the wind and fresh to easily get into or across to breaks or win the field sprint. That same theory carries over to crits except there is no protecting a rider from the wind and on such a tight course like the Matrix Challenge, you can't just say "hey brownie, get on my wheel and I'll take you to the front. The race is too fast and by the time you got to the front things would surge and you haven't recovered and there you go back to the back again.

So my personal goal for that day was just to stay as close to the front as possible without having to do any work. But I wanted to stay close enough that if a break did get away without a MVC member I could easily go across by myself within 1/2 lap. But I never had to really worry about that because everyone else knew their roles during the race and executed them perfectly to keep things fast and together to let our sprinters do their thing. Brad Price, Larry Price and Clay Hobson went to the front multiple times and just drilled it to keep the pace high and basically just wear people out. That makes it easy for the sprinters to sit in and rest if you could do that on that technical course because it was just "power on" the entire time. As Brad, Larry and Clay did their part, Patrick was busy cleaning up two primes and I got the other two.

The race pretty much stayed together until the last three laps when Chris Hamilton from Dallas Racing attacked off the front to either try it solo or make us work chasing him while their sprinter Jorge Merle sat in. The problem was they didn't have a Brad Price. When Chris attacked, Brad immediately went to the front and just pegged it for 2 laps. When we rounded the corner leading into the long back stretch on the bell lap Hamilton had a 30 yard gap. I was sitting 4th wheel out of that corner and feeling extremely fresh (I had been laying on the beach in Nevis, British West Indies, Virgin Islands for the past 3 days). I told my self I would jump the second Brad hit the cross street halfway down the back stretch. The second he hit that little water patch on the course I ripped by him and headed towards Hamilton. I had jumped so hard that nobody got on my wheel and I flew by Chris like he was standing still. He had just made a solo 3 lap effort so I knew he would have no sprint if I could catch him. The only problem for them was that their sprinter lost my wheel when I jumped. I crossed the line and had plenty of time to celebrate with a two arm salute. The was a good day for me because it's been a long time since I won a crit. And if I had to chose one to win the entire year it would be that one just because it's so technical and hard. I had a lot of friends show up to watch the race and it was just a great team effort all the way around. Brad, Larry, Patrick and Clay did their part to perfection to get me into the right position. And the best part was that we never said one word to each other during the race. Everyone just knew what they were suppose to do. The team is really starting to gel.