Redlands Bicycle Classic

Before writing this report, I looked at the long list of winners at the Redlands Bicycle Classic over its impressive 35+ year history. The list showcases the Classic's importance and its integral role in developing the best cycling talent in the United States. Current World Tour stars such as Sepp Kuss, Nielson Powless, and Quinn Simmons have all won stages of the Redlands Classic. Just last year, Aj August and Riley Sheehan raced the Classic and subsequently graduated to the World Tour ranks in 2024. Redlands allows U.S. riders to showcase their skills against the best in the country while also attracting strong international competition. This year, 208 riders took to the start of the Redlands Classic. 26 teams from the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the United Kingdom descended upon Redlands to vie for a place in American cycling greatness. For most aspiring pro cyclists and espoirs living in the United States, Redlands is the year's biggest, most anticipated race. Due to its early date on the calendar, it also acts as the first major goal of the season and fuels the winter and spring training fire. During the lowest points of preseason training, I would repeat a mantra to myself, “twelve laps on sunset.” Sunset is the final stage of Redlands, and it is, in my opinion, the most challenging stage of the race and possibly the most challenging day of racing in the United States.

Team Objectives & Personal Roles

Last year’s disappointments weighed heavy on my Kelly Benefits team, and from the moment we met at team camp in December, we promised each other not to repeat the same mistakes. Looking back at that camp, we also laid out goals for our team. We all agreed that we want Kelly Benefits to be the best U23 team in the country, and to do that, we need to vie for the white jersey (Best Under-23-year-old rider) at every stage race we enter. That brings us to Redlands, where the team set out to support local legend Brockton Smith and Luke Arens of Iowa in our pursuit of the white jersey. Before we kicked off the racing, Nima Ebrahimnejad (team boss) and Joe Penley (team mechanic, chef, logistics planner, and main man) sat each of the riders down individually on the night before the race to discuss what roles we would play and how we would contribute to the team goals. I played the role of road captain. The road captain in cycling organizes the troops, makes game-time decisions, and keeps the team calm throughout the race. The role requires abundant experience, an ability to read a race, and a willingness to lead. It is a position that I am new to, and as I am still a young rider, I understand that most road captains assume the role with more experience. Still, I was eager to take on this new challenge and add this skill to my repertoire. With day one of the Classic fast approaching, the team prepared for a sizzling start to the race on the punchy, unrelenting Highlands Circuit.

Stage One: Highland City Circuit Race

My heart pounded as I stood over my bike at the start line. A mixture of unfamiliar 85-degree heat, intense nerves, and an unwise amount of pre-race caffeine made me feel like I was about to explode before the race started, but the ice sock running down my back and seeing all my mates around me at the start cooled me down. The Highlands Circuit is a 54-mile, 20-lap race. The circuit begins with a roaring 4-lane descent that takes you into an incredibly tight and technical neighborhood section before turning you back through the feed zone and up a 90-second wall of a climb to the finish. In familiar fashion, the race shot off like a rocket. The first lap of the climb was full gas as adrenaline and lactic acid coursed through the peloton.

My teammates and I positioned well, but the pace was unrelenting. By the end of lap 10, I crested the climb, wondering, “How the hell am I going to do that lap ten more times?” I’m not sure if it was getting over the halfway hump or if the race slowed down, but for the next five laps, I started to find my groove. Somewhere in the melee, we heard a call over the radio that my teammate Ben Stokes had gone down. Legend has it that Ben’s body barrel-rolled across the pavement five times before miraculously jumping back to his feet, onto his bike, and back into the peloton in the blink of an eye. It was an incredible effort, considering he finished the race missing about a quarter of his skin. As the finale approached, our Lions were ready for the fight. In the final laps, a heat delirium started to sink in slowly, my cognitive functions began to wane, and my legs began to seize as the aggression and speed quickly rose to a boil. By the penultimate lap of the climb, I was cramping heavily and slowly watched the peloton ride away. Three of my eight teammates remained in the shrinking leading peloton. Our leaders, Brockton and Luke, positioned themselves well while young Julien Rhue rode impressively to do the same. Brockton used his experience to time his sprint well and finished the stage with a solid 15th. Julien opened up his sprint early but managed to hold onto an impressive 31st in his first Redlands stage, while Luke followed closely behind in the front group.

Stage Two: Onyx Summit Road Race

The tall, white peaks of Onyx summit loomed large in the distance as we drove to the start of Stage 2. I recall my stomach dropping as Luke pointed out the peak we would soon summit. Stage 2 of the Redlands Classic in 2024 is entirely new for the race, and its profile would make even the strongest riders in the peloton squirm in their seat. The stage covers 50 miles with over 8,000 feet of climbing. The stage starts at the San Bernadino Airport and winds its way slightly uphill through Yucaipa before beginning the 30-mile climb up to Onyx Summit at 8,500 feet. With only 20 miles of racing before the base of the climb, the race was full-on from the gun. The plan for the Kelly Benefits Lions was to protect our leaders and position them at the front throughout the stage. Throughout the skirmishes of the two intermediate sprints leading into the base of the climb, we organized ourselves near the front. As we entered the uphill drag to the base of the climb, we found ourselves in an unlikely position as we lined up on the front of the peloton. Going into the stage, we never intended to have our train leading the peloton. However, with our numbers organized and a complete lack of impetus from any other team to pull, we made the game-time decision to use some of our worker bees to make pace at the front and keep our leaders safe and out of trouble before the fight began.

Finally, the mighty Project Echelon squad took over at the base of the climb, setting a moderate pace on the front. Our Lions, however, did not disappear from the fold. We continued to sit safely on the hip of the Echelon train and even took up the front again before hitting KOM one and KOM two to prepare for any attacks. The middle portion of the climb levels off and even features a couple of small descents. Project Echelon returned to the front through this portion, and we followed closely behind. However, this respite did not last long as the road reers up one final time for an 8.5-mile section into the thin air. Starting the final portion of the climb, Ben and Andrew Strohmeyer brought the last bottles and ice socks to the front. After the final feed zone with around 6 miles to go, I made my way up to the front for one final time with Brockton on my wheel. After hitting the front and closing down a strong move that tried to sneak away, I was at my limit and left Brockton and Luke to finish the job. The peloton's pace rose quickly, but no one managed to escape the remaining select group. Brockton was our first finisher in the leading group at 21st, with Luke close behind. Although the finish was not what our two leaders had hoped for, they were happy to stay safely in the hunt for the General Classification, sitting in 12th and 23rd, respectively.

Stage 3: Lake Perris Time Trial

It’s 7 a.m. on the morning of stage 3. The team is gathered around the breakfast table, putting down bowls of Captain Crunch and Mini Wheats. Brockton turns to the group to show us a clip he has just posted on Instagram. It’s Reese Bobby in the movie Talladega Nights telling Ricky, “You gotta learn to drive with the fear,” after putting a live cougar in the passenger seat of his car. Brockton took this mentality into the wildly technical Stage 3 time trial, and I think we all adopted the same mantra for the day after we saw it. The time trial around Lake Perris is just 11 miles long, but with a narrow and twisty bike path chock-full of sharp corners covering over 60% of the course, the riders had plenty of reason to be scared of this stage. Today is a day for our general classification contenders where they might not win the race but could certainly lose it.

My excitement to send it rose to a high as my start time approached. Over the past few years, I have grown an unlikely love for time trials, and it helps to have a super fast and fun setup. The preparation and mental fortitude that time trialing requires to lay it all on the line while it’s just you and your thoughts racing against the clock is a unique craft. My legs felt great, and the sensations were all on point for a good time trial. I decided not to run power, heart rate, or speed on my computer and instead to ride all out, on instinct. For the first 15 minutes, I had diamonds in my legs and was pushing everything to the max, but like Icarus, I flew too close to the sun. After a minor road crossing in a fast, shaded section, the course takes an abrupt left-hand corner. On the limit and unaware, I took a slight detour into the bushes before running back onto the course and finishing the stage as fast as possible. I was proud of my effort and how I pushed myself to the limit, finishing just a minute off of the top ten, but I was disappointed in my execution. Enough about me; our general classification leaders were in the hunt for the white jersey. Luke had an exceptional ride after also coming to a stop on the course and finished in 7th, moving him up to 12th on G.C. Brockton finished up in 28th position but only slipped two spots in the G.C., moving down to 14th. At this point of the race, Luke and Brockton were sitting in 4th and 5th, respectively, in the White Jersey competition with just two stages left.

Stage 4: Redlands Criterium

The crowd's roar crescendos to a peak, the atmosphere is electric, and the fans are ecstatic. All eight Lions line the sidelines, bang on the boards, and shout at the top of their lungs because the under-10-year-old kids’ racers are flying into the finish. It’s a moment of deja vu for me. The moment transports me to 2007, the Hopkins Raspberry Festival criterium; I’m three years old, and the local legend is on the call, commentating the sprint over the loudspeaker as I race to the finish on a strider against a girl on a tricycle. Since that formative moment, bike racing has been my life. Seeing the joy and passion on the kids' faces as they finished was enough to fire us up for the criterium we would be racing later that day.

The stage 4 criterium is a 90-minute race on a technical six-corner lap. For most of the team, the day's objective is to stay safe and keep Brockton and Luke near the front and out of trouble. However, that is not the case for Julien and Nathan Cusack, the Lions’ resident ‘crit-dawgs’ who will fight for a top result on the stage. The Redlands criterium would mistaken for a rest day at a rider's peril. The race is fast and highly aggressive nonstop, and positioning near the front is critical to avoid a day of endless rubber band effects. Luckily for the Lions, the kid’s race hyped us up, and we were ready for the fight. As we started the last 15 minutes of racing, the pace began to heat up, and I found myself in the top 20 wheels with 4 of my teammates following close behind. Exiting the last corner with eight laps to go, I narrowly avoided a crash that subsequently neutralized the race. Sadly, Brockton went down in the crash but was up and ready for the finale. The race was restarted from a stop with ten laps to go after a second crash happened in a rolling neutral.

After being stopped for an eternity, the field was anxious for a flying 10-lap race. Most of our riders held a solid position after the restart. Julien, Nathan, Luke, and I made our way to the front when another nasty crash happened with seven laps to go in the exit of turn three that Brockton was again a victim of. The crash rang alarm bells for the team as the laps wound down, and Brockton was in danger of losing time on the stage. Satchel and Ben did a hero job closing gaps and bringing Brockton back into a good position. By the last lap, I had drifted back enough to pick up Brockton from Ben and pin it to the finish to avoid a time loss. Up in the front, our crit-dawgs were balling out and had killer rides, with Julien sprinting to 8th and Nathan following closely in 11th. The team left the day on a high after the inspiring rides from two of our first-year U23s. Luke and Brockton sit in 11th and 12th on general classification in touching distance of the white jersey going into Sunset, the final day of Redlands.

Stage 5: Sunset Road Race

My teeth chattered as I stood over my bike at the start of Stage 5. A dewy chill was in the air as dark and ominous clouds rolled our way. Sunset is the most anticipated and feared day of racing across the American peloton, and when rain is in the forecast, it heightens those nerves even more. Sunset is a 91.3-mile road race with over 8,000 feet of elevation gain. The course starts in Downtown Redlands at the criterium course and races two shortened laps of the crit before climbing out of town for three miles up to the sunset lap. The Sunset lap is 6.5 miles, with almost 500 feet of climbing per lap. The most challenging part of Sunset is its incredibly technical nature. There isn’t a straight or flat road across the entire lap. After completing 12 laps of the Sunset course, racers will descend back down into downtown Redlands to complete five laps of the criterium course before finishing. In recent years, only a handful of people have made it to the iconic criterium finish due to the two-minute cut-off at the start of the crit laps. Each sunset lap, more riders are dropped and eventually pulled from the race when they are in danger of being lapped by the leaders. This year, only 55 of the 160 starters completed all 12 laps and descended into downtown Redlands, while only 35 riders were allowed to complete the criterium laps. Enough context; let’s race.

It seemed like fate that just moments after the start, cold rain began to sprinkle on us. That sprinkle quickly turned to a shower as we exited the crit course and made our way up to the Sunset laps. The bunch had an eerie, nervous energy as brakes started to squeal and tires started to slip on wet paint. The energy in the group rose as we climbed our way up to the sunset lap, where the gradient pitches up for the first lap of the Sunset climb. And erupt it did, as king of the mountain hunters and G.C contenders vie for the points and time bonuses on offer at the top of the climb. Over the top of the climb, a breakaway of three riders had a slight advantage. I rolled the dice and tried to go a cross to it. After getting a small gap over the peloton, the already rolling Project Echelon train quickly reeled me back in.

The first 20 minutes of Sunset shatters the back of the peloton every year, but the Lions were, again, ready for the fight. The rain fell intermittently throughout the day, but for the first couple of hours, the rain never stopped long enough to dry the roads. The cool temperatures and wet roads slowly made my hands numb, and with the frequent braking, shifting, and cornering demands throughout the course, this was an extremely unwelcome feeling. As the laps went by, I developed a nagging side stitch and indigestion, likely a product of dehydration or some sort of flaw in my preparation. It’s uncommon for everything to go right on the final day of a demanding stage race, especially when it’s the queen stage. But these are the moments that you prepare for in the winter. As bad as I felt that day, I repeated to myself every lap on the climb, “Twelve laps on sunset. This is what you’ve been training for.” It was the mantra I had used all winter, and it helped me get to the top of the climb lap after lap. My confidence grew as the laps wound down, and I could smell the end drawing closer.

As for the team, our plan for the day was to support our leaders and hang on to the front group for as long as possible, hoping that Brockton and Luke could find some separation from our White Jersey rivals late in the race. At this point, I’d like to mention the performance of my teammate, Satchel Kim. Satchel found out that he was racing Redlands just a week before the race, but all the while, this spring, he was preparing to do the job. Throughout the week, Satchel fought tooth and nail to make time cut and be at the front to help his teammates for as long as possible. Before Sunset, Satchel wasn’t sure he’d make it past a single lap up the climb with the group, but he made it through nine in the end. Chapeau.

Back at the front, Brockton, Luke, and Andrew were calm and collected going into the last few laps. I was starting to suffer. In the last four laps, the pace on the climb rose considerably, and riders dropped like flies. After nearly dropping from the group for multiple laps on the climb, I finally broke and said goodbye to the front on the penultimate time up. With just one lap to go, I met up with a group of four fellow dropped riders, and we rode the 12th and final lap together while soaking in the cheer of the crowds gathered around the course. After completing the final lap, the officials ushered us to descend to downtown Redlands towards the criterium course. It’s hard to describe the feeling of freewheeling down the closed-off four-lane roads into town, knowing the battle we went through to get there.

Up in the front, three Lions were fighting for the win and animating the race. On the last lap of the climb, Luke followed an explosive attack from Tobjorn Roed, but even 450 watts for four minutes at the end of Sunset was not enough to split the group. The 35 riders in the front group descended into downtown Redlands to complete the five criterium laps. Stories from my three teammates in the lead group confirmed that those five laps were faster than any lap of the criterium the day before. Andrew led the team, sprinting for 14th on the day. Luke followed in 18th, and Brockton in 22nd.

Finishing Results & A Look Ahead

In the General Classification, Luke and Brockton ended the Classic in 11th and 12th, seconds out of the top ten. They also finished in 4th and 5th, respectively, in the White Jersey competition. Although these results were not what our Kelly Benefits team came out to do, we left Redlands with our heads held high after attacking the race every day and racing as a genuine unit that gave everything for our common goal. Every day of the Classic, Kelly finished with a rider in the top 25, with two of those days being top 10s and two being top 15s. After achieving these results, we leave California with great confidence in our ability to ride as a team and a huge motivation for future races. U23 and Pro Nationals are next on the horizon for the Lions, and the pride is hungrier than ever.

Consider Donating To My GoFundMe

If you’ve made it this far and want to support my journey, please consider donating to GoFundMe. Racing in Europe and pursuing the highest level of the sport have been some of my biggest goals throughout my life and have been a dream of mine since I was very young. The Kelly Benefits team is providing my teammates and me the opportunity to pursue our dreams of racing in Europe this summer, as we will tackle two months of racing in Spain and Belgium. I have been incredibly fortunate throughout my cycling career to have amazing support systems that allow me to continue to pursue my dreams. That being said, it takes a village to realize big goals like this, and I still need some support. The funds raised from GoFundMe will be used to cover essential expenses such as flights and some additional transportation and food costs.

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Disclaimer: Disclaimer: In this post, the language I use describing my team comes from my own personal experience and is not a generalization of the experiences of all people on my team or an official message of Kelly Benefits Cycling.