Tour of Newport News

Where: Newport News, Virginia
When: 4/11-4/14
Who: Luke Burger

I have a complicated relationship with the Tour of Newport News. In 2023, racing as a cat 4 in the 3/4 my street sprints were a wash, the time trial went decently, I got blown out of the water in the crit, and had a lackluster finish in the circuit race.

This year would be different and I had a plan: Devin was going to take the W in the 3/4, then his upgrade. I was going to do whatever was necessary to make that happen and maybe get some points along the way. All is good, happy days.

*Devin and Flo discuss tail gunning etiquette*

None of that happened. Leading up to the race, Devin and I were given the challenge of racing up in the 2/3 along with Flo. Was I mentally ready for this? No. Was I physically ready for this? Maybe? Either way, I clicked "Edit Registration" and the die was cast. It was 2/3 or bust.

Before we dive into the race, let's get some clerical work out of the way. What does this race actually look like? It's four events over three days:

Street sprints (Friday night): single elimination tournament sprinting 200m from a standing start
Time trial (Saturday morning): five mile out-and-back course
Criterium (Saturday evening): 40 minutes on a 1k course in downtown Newport News
Circuit race (Sunday): 60 minutes on a 3 mile course through Fort Eustis

Eventually, the day came. Alex and I drove down to the team AirBnB, everyone got settled in, and we were off to the street sprints. To be honest, I was not mentally present for these. I hadn't done any prep for the standing start, I didn't see myself being a player in the omnium, and I had seen three people (including a teammate) have impromptu meet and greets with the asphalt. At the start line, I was somehow both terrified and ambivalent, a combination of emotions I didn’t know was possible until then. The whistle blew, I almost fell over, I pushed anxious power, I finished third. Not good enough to move on. But even though that was what I’d expected, I felt…annoyed? I was upset that I hadn't progressed, which meant that I had an expectation for myself. That's a good thing.

Actually, I tricked y'all. This recap isn't really about the race itself, so let's back up a few months to a preseason team dinner. After dinner and fraternizing, we had a team meeting with each person coming up with some goals on the season. Flo wanted his 2 upgrade (you bet your ass he got that) and so did Devin (ditto). In my head, that wasn't really an option for me yet. I wanted to win Jeff Cup because I thought that was the only race I had a realistic chance at. It had taken me 10 races to get my first points in the Cat 4 field, what made me think I could be anything in the 3 field (much less the 2)? Getting from 3 to 2 was a challenge years in the making.

Back in Newport News, it was day two and time for the TT. Just an out and back 2.5 miles each way, but with a whipping headwind on the out. So the plan was obviously to drill it into the headwind and hang on for dear life on the way back, right? You're absolutely correct, that's what someone with cojones would have done. But that's not what happened. I did 13 more watts on the back half than on the front and finished with an 11:54 – good enough for 34th/54 at almost a minute off the winner's 10:59. My problem wasn't even the power. I could have done probably 20 seconds faster with the same watts if I had just paced better. My problem was that I raced scared. I was terrified of going out too hard and blowing up on the way home.

Noticing a trend here?

After I saw the results I was mad (again this is a good thing). See, it isn't really possible to not believe in yourself and still be upset about not performing. If I really didn't think I belonged in the 2/3 field, I would have thought "woe is me, why did I ever sign up for this category?". Nah, we weren't about that. Let's move on to the crit in the afternoon.

If there's one thing I believe in this world, it's that figure 8s are the perfect criterium course. Newport is fast, punchy, and flowy with a bit of a kicker each lap. What more can a growing boy ask for? I may have made it all of 15 minutes in the 3/4 race last year and put up some lackluster performances in the previous two events, but I wasn't going to let that stop me from having a good time this goaround. I line up second row, whistle blows, we're off. And then? It's just racing. Something clicks – we swing into corners, we punch out. Rinse, repeat. I hold some wheels and bump some shoulders, and all of the sudden it feels natural. Some moments I'm top three wheels and others I slide back to P20, but things are never out of control. I don’t want to play myself up and say I was one of the people who dictated the race, but I belonged. I’m not hanging on for dear life getting tumble dried. I’m finding the spots to hold speed and move up on the outside of turns. Or taking a cheeky inside line to make up a handful of positions. I’m just racing. In a 2/3 field. As a Cat 3 with a single points performance to my name. Huh.

All isn't a fairytale. I didn't win the race, or podium, or top 10. At the end of the day, I came 22nd/58. I was sitting P10ish in the last lap when I got squeezed on the inside of a corner and had to scrub off way too much speed. So it goes sometimes. I'll learn to get my elbows sharper in the last lap at some point, I'm sure. But none of that is really the point. Based on prior results, I was predicted 41st, and based on my mental headspace going into the weekend, I was there as pack fodder. No, no, no. I'm here for a reason. Let's move onto Sunday.

The circuit race was probably the event I had been least looking forward to.

Features of races I enjoy:

Tight and twisty town center circuits
Elevation change
Short laps

Features of races I do not enjoy

Wide, sparsely featured circuits
Pan flat
Long laps

Take a guess which of the two describes the circuit race. Ah well. In for a penny, in for a pound. This one goes off quick and stays quick. Attacks fly and we cover them well as a team. I have two brief scares as (1) a very dangerous looking break makes it 15 seconds up the road. I bridge 10 of those 15 seconds and quickly realize I’m not closing the last five, then (2) nearly pop trying to recover when I get caught along with the break. Despite everything, we come into the last lap looking like it’ll be a sprint. And here I have the same problem as yesterday – be it a lack of aggressiveness or missing that last percent to give late in a race, I start sliding back from P5 to P10 to P20. Leadout riders are peeling off. We roll into the finishing left-right-left series of turns and the final drag to the line. Devin flies past me like he was fired out of a cannon, same with Flo. Then I come across the line: 17th/61. Not terrible, especially given my expectations.

I don’t want to frame this as some masterful weekend I put together, in fact, I didn't score a single omnium or upgrade point. None of that really mattered to me though. I came out of Newport News knowing that I was ready for a 2/3 field and just needed to convert the form and skill I had into meaningful Cat 3 points. And I did. I scored 22 points in my next eight 3/4 races and secured the upgrade. Newport News brought to mind the words of wisdom I wish I could credit, "If you want to achieve a goal, you cannot respect that goal". And I didn't anymore. I knew that I could be a competent Cat 2 – it wasn't anything special. It was just a matter of converting. And now I get to do that all again in the march from Cat 2 to 1. This time, maybe I'll believe in myself.

So to wrap this up: thanks to my team for supporting and challenging me. I wouldn’t have pushed myself like this on my own. And thanks to the Tour of Newport News for being a great race I look forward to as a fixture on the race calendar. I can't wait to give it another go next year.

Mabra Champs Weekend

Tulsa Tough ‘24