The Carousel Volkswagen Jingle Cross Rock CX Race
Iowa City, Iowa
November 16th, 17th, and 18th.
The Cannondale p/b CyclocrossWorld.com men’s trio of Ryan Trebon, Tim Johnson, and Jamey Driscoll headed to Iowa City, Iowa last weekend for three straight days of racing at the Carousel Volkswagen Jingle Cross Rock CX Races. Friday’s night race and Saturday’s afternoon race were both UCI C2 events with Sunday’s feature event being a UCI C1 race.
Jamey Driscoll bounced back from a disappointing weekend in Louisville, Kentucky by winning the Friday night event in solo fashion ahead of Chris Jones (Rapha-Focus), Ben Berden (Raleigh/Clement), and his Cannondale p/b CyclocrossWorld.com teammate, Ryan Trebon. Teammate, Tim Johnson, did not finish the event after crashing just after the completion of one lap.
“It was really greasy out there tonight,” said Driscoll. “I was just on the right side of keeping things in control and I was able to ride the hill while not everyone else was. They paid for that.”
Johnson bounced back from his misfortune on Friday night to win the Saturday race, ultimately winning in similar fashion to Driscoll the night before.
“When I went down on Friday night I bruised my knee on my top tube pretty badly,” said Johnson. “I was able to get the swelling under control by Saturday afternoon and decided to start the race.”
It would turn out to be the right decision for Johnson. Halfway into the race, he attacked a small group that contained teammates Trebon and Driscoll, Berden and Jones and opened a gap that would only grow as the race carried on, leading Johnson to his first win of the season.
Coming into the final laps of the event, Trebon applied the pressure and the chase group began to unfold. Trebon ended up coming in alone for 2nd place with Berden alone in 3rd. Driscoll, suffering a bit from the previous night’s efforts, was able to hold on for 5th place behind Jones.
“I knew I was going to go fast today,” said Johnson. “I recently made some changes to my training that are working with my travel and racing schedule. I think the bad legs are behind me now.”
Sunday’s race, the UCI C1 event, proved to be a battle from start to finish with Johnson backing up his comments after Saturday’s performance with another win in dramatic fashion.
“The course was really hard,” said Johnson. “I knew the race would break up, so I just tried to wait as long as possible to make my move.”
Looking to be still fatigued from the weekend’s earlier efforts, Driscoll looked be in a bit of difficulty latching onto the lead group for the first few laps, but according to the Cannondale p/b CyclocrossWorld.com rider fatigue was not the problem.
“I just had a bad start. I should have fought harder to get up there early because I got caught behind some slower riders who let some gaps open up and I had to close them all myself.”
Once Driscoll made contact with the lead group of Johnson, Trebon, Berden, and Jones the attacks ensued for the early part of the race, but it wasn’t until Driscoll attacked on Mt. Krumpit with three laps to go that the final selection was made.
“Jamey attacked hard up the hill and I sat on Jones,” said Johnson. “I attacked Jones on the descent and was able to get a gap. Once I got away from him I was able to get to Jamey alone.”
The next time over Mt. Krumpit, Johnson attacked Driscoll and Driscoll couldn’t hold his wheel, giving Johnson the gap he needed to carry himself to the finish line for his first UCI C1 win of the season and second win of the weekend.
“I was using the new cyclocross-specific SRAM cassette today and it was the right choice,” said Johnson. “I usually use an 11-26, but the new cassette is a 12-27 and I needed that 27 to get over Mt. Krumpit today.”
In the end, Driscoll was able to hold onto second place, finishing 22 seconds behind Johnson and 20 seconds ahead of third place finisher, Berden. Trebon was less fortunate on Sunday, being forced to abandon while sitting in the lead group just before the halfway point of the race.
