June 16, 2004 (Redlands, CA) – Elite-level cycling returned to Redlands,
Calif. on Wednesday as the PoolGel USCF Elite Men¹s National Championships
highlighted the day¹s competition that also included a junior race that will
be utilized in the selection of the team that will represent the U.S. at the
UCI Junior Road World Championships later this year.

As a lead-in to Thursday¹s time trial event and Saturday¹s road race that
will result in three nominations to the 2004 U.S. Olympic team, today¹s
elite men¹s national championship gave onlookers a first-hand look at the
difficult and challenging terrain that will help to select a trio of worthy
Olympic athletes. Chris Walker (Goleta, Calif.), a 42-year-old veteran rider
for the Labor Power squad, claimed the elite men¹s title today by attacking
his two breakaway companions in the closing kilometer of the 157K race.

After a 7K neutral start loop, the field of 127 riders set out for 10 laps
of a 15K loop that featured a 2K ascent to Panorama Point on each lap. The
stretch of road that topped out with a 20% grade, along with several other
short climbs throughout the loop quickly separated the field as a break of
five established itself early in the race. Evan Elken (Portland, Ore.), John
Osguthorpe (Salt Lake City, Ore.), John Hunt (Fairfax, Calif.), Chris Peck
(Southbury, Conn.), and Steve Tilford (Topeka, Kan.) distanced themselves
from the remainder of the field and eventually increased their advantage to
over a minute. Behind, a chase group of Curt Davis (Sandy Hook, Conn.),
Michael Hutchinson (Napa, Calif.) and Walker bridged up to the leaders with
six laps remaining. With an advantage of 1:30, the selective course
continued to take its toll on the field as the main peloton splintered into
several groups and riders in the break began to fall off the pace.

From one of those groups behind, William Innes (Menlo Park, Calif.) managed
to make his way across to the leaders and with three laps remaining, Innes,
Walker and Elken would emerge as the winning move. With two laps remaining,
what was left of the field was over four minutes off the pace as the leaders
worked together to increase their advantage. In between, a couple of chasers
lingered one minute behind but would not threaten the leaders.

As the race wound down to the closing kilometers, a series of attacks began
as Elken was the first to try his hand at opening up a gap. Walker fired
next with 3km to go, followed by another effort from Elkin as Innes looked
content to let it boil down to a sprint. As the race neared the finish line
inside of one kilometer to go, Walker tried one final attack. As Elken
looked for Innes to respond, Walker continued to roll on towards the finish
line claiming his national championship in solo fashion.

In the ensuing sprint, a fresher Innes easily took the sprint from Elken who
spent himself in the final few attacks. ³I knew that guy [Innes] had a big
sprint so if I would have pulled him up after Walker attacked, then he would
have won, it was the only thing I could have done.²

³I can¹t sprint,² Walker admitted after the race explaining his eleventh
hour tactic. ³I just took off with about 1km to go and they sort of just
looked at each other and that was it.²

Earlier in the day, Zach Taylor (Marietta, Ga.) won the junior men¹s
selection race. One of five in a series of events that factors into
selection of the world championship team, this morning¹s event covered the
same 7.6K start loop followed by four laps of the circuit for a total of
67.6K.

The first significant move of the day occurred when Taylor and Erek Riggs
(Antelope, Calif.) amounted a 50-second gap on the field of 39 riders. As
Taylor suffered up the climbs, Riggs opened up a slight gap, but as the
bunch approached the base of the climb to Panorama Point for the third time
the field was fully intact. With opportunities to create a selection
dwindling, the pace up the climb intensified, and a group of 13 riders found
itself with a slight advantage over a chase group of 12. Just before the
start of the final lap, the two lead groups came together and Taylor made
his move. By the time he made his way around to the final ascent up Panorama
Point, Talyor had put a minute between himself and any challengers.

As Riggs attempted to bridge across, Taylor managed to reach the summit with
his one minute advantage secure.

With the field feverishly chasing from behind, it looked as though Taylor
would be caught in the closing kilometers, but a strong final effort by
Taylor, coupled with a breakdown in the chase behind, allowed Taylor to
easily cruise in for the win 1:15 ahead of Luke Pennington (Hood River,
Ore.) who took the sprint from the final group of 11 riders.

³I had trouble on the climbs all day long,² explained Taylor afterwards. ³At
the end of the third lap, I figured I was either going to help one of my
teammates win, or get away before the climb. I got dropped on the little
climb before the start of the last lap and when I finally caught up, I just
went right by the field and time trialed all the way home.²

Racing continues and the stakes increase on Thursday with the USCF Elite
Men¹s and Women¹s time trial events. The winner of each is crowned USCF
National Time Trial Champion, but the winner of the women¹s race also earns
a spot on the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team.