5 miles into Big Sugar, I slotted into third wheel as we rounded a corner into an exposed section of crosswind, just as Keegan hit the front and started hammering in the gutter. With gusts well over 20 mph, there was no draft to be had, but I avoided getting caught off guard and missing a split. A mile later, we turned into a tailwind. Game on. Tight turns and chunky rollers were the tools I needed to capitalize on the chaos caused by Swenson’s surprise attack, and I found myself several seconds off the front with some names you might have heard: Keegan Swenson, Russell Finsterwald, Pete Stetina, and Logan Owen. What were these guys doing off the front less than 30 minutes into the race? With so much on the line in the Grand Prix overall, shouldn’t they have been hiding in the group and saving energy? One thing was abundantly clear: this field came to Bentonville to race, to throw down and put the pedal to the floor, to toss caution to the wind and fly recklessly across that unforgiving terrain, ready to show the world how Americans race gravel. Our group of 5 soon swelled to 20, and all the pre-race favorites were present through the first aid station. With the hilliest section of the course on the horizon, Owen and Brennan Wertz and I followed Michael Garrison as he rolled off the front, a solid train of diesels hoping to get a head start on the steep stuff. We bridged up to Lachlan Morton, but got caught before the base of the last in a series of 4 kickers, a (thankfully) paved slope of over 15%. But no one attacked, and the group let me set the pace up the climb. More rollers at the top of the hill followed by yet another steep, fast, loose descent let me put my momentum to work. Again, I was off the front, this time joined only by Griffin Easter, on a protected, gentle 8 mile section of steady 1-2% grades. The group soon faded from view behind us, and it wasn’t long before the steady, hard tempo dispatched Easter as well. 10 miles later, a photographer on a moto put my gap at over 2 minutes... 📸 by @photowil