It's 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Gravel Week here on Cyclingnews, and so who better to continue our 'Five races that changed my life' series than the reigning Dirty Kanza champion Colin Strickland.

The Texan triumphed ahead of WorldTour pros Peter Stetina, Alex Howes and Lachlan Morton, but it was a long road to the top of the gravel world. Only starting out racing at the age of 23, Strickland took in road and fixed gear racing en route to where he is today.

Here, Strickland talks us through his career so far, picking out five key races that have meant the most to him.

Gravel Worlds 2018

The race💮 organisers basically claimed the title of 'Gravel Worlds' about ten years ago in a tongue in cheek sort of way. It's a race in Lincoln, Nebraska and it was important to me because it showed where I was in comparison to other gravel racers at the time. I had won the race in 2017, but this time around I was competing against a much stronger field that included the 2017 Dirty Kanza men’s champion Mat Stephens.

The race couldn't have started any worse. I flatted at around mile 25 and it w🤪as nightmare change. I lost over ten minutes, but it felt like an eternity as I stood there and watched the lead group get smaller and smaller before eventually disappearing out of sight.

When I finally got going I had to chase solo for 50 miles, and that point I just thought 'fuck it'. I was either go✤ing to give up there and then or bury myself to get back into the race. I was literally 12 minutes behind a group of 50, so I just burned down the barn to see what would happen and luckily there was still something left afterwards.

I was riding on these endlessly long and rolling Nebraska roads. They were lꦫike waves on the ocean almost, and I could see the leaders up ahead even though I was still three minutes back. But I felt that if I could bring them within sight then I could make contact.

I managed to catch the lead group at mile 80 and from there I made the selection for the main break. The final guy I was with was Stephens and as he was the reigning Kanza champion I was watching him like a hawk as we entered the final couple of miles. I put in a massive attack witౠh every bit of power I had left in my legs and it was just enough to pull him off my wheel and take the win.

The firsܫt 80 miles of that race had been a solo time trial at over 300 watts and I really only started to 'race' once I caught the leaders but the event taught me that I had an engine for races that long and against a high level of competition.

Until this win I still saw myself as a fixed gear specialist, but in terms♋ of gaining confidence, thisജ was the race that set me on my way and proved to me that I was good enough. As for everyone else, they had to find out the slow way.

Red Hook Criterium 2015

I hadn't messed around with the format for three years and was totally inexperienced at it during my first attempt but everything worked o✅ut an🎶d I won after being alone for the second half of the race.

From there I believed that I was suited to the fixed gear style of criterium racing – it was a revelation before my gravel days and I've h🗹ad a couple of epiphanies – but this race took place in Milan, Italy and it was also my first time in Europe. The course had no hairpins, which was good for me because my fixed gear skills weren’t exactly polished.

The roads were narrow, and it was so loud and it was just fucking wild. It was insanely enerℱgetic. It was🌳 almost like a trip, you know? When you're in the moment things are so intense and when you think back all you can remember are flashes of events.

I had been invited by my friend Sammi Reynolds who now races cross for Squid Bikes. She saw that I might be good at the cr🙈it scene, and she knew me pretty well, so she 🥂called up the boss on her team and sure enough things just clicked. Until then I'd never raced outside of the States, and my only time outside of the US had been to Mexico.

The race showed me that fortune favours the bold. I'd travelled all that way from Austin, Texas and I wasn't just going to ride around and wait for the sprint. I showed me that at some point in a race you need to throw your hand down and go all in. You're either going to pull it off you're fuckeꦏd. It's first or last.