A Junior Journal: Dean Haas tackles USA Cycling’s road nationals

When the Men’s 15-16 age group lines up for a run at the USA Cycling junior national time trial championships Thursday, Lakewood, Colorado’s Dean Haas will open his sixth run at a national title. Haas’ five previous trips to nationals have ended with disappointment, whether through crashes or mechanical mishaps.

The Black Sheep Junior Cycling rider will enter nationals in Bend, Oregon, this week on a tear. He wore the Cat. 3 leader’s jersey at the SRAM Tour of the Gila in April and won the Sunshine Canyon hill climb and Iron Horse Classic road race in Colorado in May.

Haas is aiming to win the 15-16 road race on Saturday morning; the 60k affair is one of his shortest road races of the year. VeloNews will check in with Dean throughout the week for insight into what it means to be a junior racing for a national title. Today, Haas looks back at his preparations throughout the spring, including Gila.

April 28, 2010 (Tour of the Gila Stage 1)

The SRAM Tour of the Gila is the biggest race I have done to date. I drove down there two days before from Denver, which took about 12 hours and I actually got to drive on the way down to Silver City! I did not know what to expect coming into the race and I was pretty nervous when I saw the 100+ rider field at the 8:00 a.m. start in Gough Park.

Throughout the whole stage I was thinking about nationals and how close this race would be to it. Not much happened for the first 70 miles, until the second feed zone outside Glenwood with about 11 miles left on the stage. I knew the steep climb up to Mogollon was coming and I moved from the back of the group were I was riding to the front.

When the real 5-kilometer climb started above the steep step onto the mesa, I went to the front and drove the pace. That climb was very cool because of how narrow and winding it was. As we climbed, I couldn’t even see where the finish was.

Eventually, I broke the group and went off the front solo. I had a tailwind the whole climb, making it very hot, but I kept riding up the steep pitches until I got to the finish. I won the stage, putting me in the leader’s jersey, which was probably the coolest thing ever, other than the fact that I didn’t get the podium girls.

May 11 (Training Day)

There is a climb near where I live called Lookout Mountain. I’ve done the time trial at nationals before so I have an idea what the course is like. I decided this spring that the best replication of the course is to ride the backside of Lookout Mountain on my time trial bike. It is a little bit steeper than the course at nationals and slightly longer as well.

My goal on the ride was to stay in my aero position regardless of my speed up the hill, to force myself to get used to climbing in my aero bars. I tried to focus and concentrate on staying aero and pacing myself up the climb to prepare myself for nationals.

I also used the climb to practice spinning out my junior gearing (52-14). I remember having trouble staying ahead of my gears and spinning on the downhill at the race last year. I knew if I could spin fast on a hill steeper than the actual race, it would give me an advantage over my competition.

I even took my race wheels out to go as fast as I could and deal with any wind I might have. I basically tried to ride the national TT course right here at home.

May 20 (Training Day)

One of my favorite rides to do is into downtown Denver. I live around an hour ride from downtown via various bike paths and roads. I motor pace on cars on the way into Denver because it is slightly downhill and trying to get into the drafts of cars helps my jumps in sprints and attacks. I ride a lot in my drops because I like how they feel and they make me feel faster and stronger.

I always have the road race and criterium at nationals in my mind because I know the better I am in the drill I’m doing, the more competitive I will be in the race. It isn’t important if this is actually true or not, but it helps me get psyched up and confident if I think I have an advantage.

I time-trialed down the Cherry Creek bike path and tried to keep a high wattage and speed. I really don’t like that path because I always think it’s windy and slow. The last part of the ride was around a flat, one-mile loop at Washington Park. I can spin out a 52-14 around the park and I try to keep a good speed of around 30 mph for several laps. I also added in sprints occasionally around the loop. I felt great on this ride, which helped my confidence headed into the weekend’s races.

May 29, 2010 (Iron Horse Road Race)

The Iron Horse road race from Durango to Silverton has to be one of my favorite races ever. It is so cool riding over the passes and not having to obey the center-line rule. The race started early, similar to the start of my road race at nationals.

I always have small details such as the race start of nationals in the back of my mind so I work on preparing for it every single day. I literally woke up, ate breakfast, kitted up and rode to the start. I hit the start with stiff legs and I was not feeling good, knowing I need to at least warm up a little before nationals so this doesn’t happen.

I started to feel better and by the time we hit the middle point of the race at the Coal Bank climb I was setting the pace and was able to breakaway alone.  I kept the pace up over the tops of each climb because there were descents mixed in.

I had so much joy on my face when I saw the finish at the bottom of the last descent into Silverton. I rode through the main street where I think almost every resident of Silverton plus some were cheering. It felt awesome – I thought this was a grand tour or something.

I knew that I could do something of this caliber at nationals after my performance at Iron Horse.

FILED UNDER: News / No Spoil / Rider Diaries / Road TAGS: Dean Haas / USA Cycling elite national road championships

Brian Holcombe

Brian Holcombe is the editor of VeloNews.com. Holcombe joined VeloNews in 2009 following years spent introducing students to whitewater kayaking and working in avalanche control, among other more risky ventures. His graduate work in communications at the University of Denver focuses on innovation and digital media management. Holcombe is a CSU Ram fan and proud parent and has been accused of attacking too much on the VN lunch ride. Follow him on Twitter @FCBrian.

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