This time, we took things down to Wimberley, Texas, for the Jacob's Well Road Race. Tucked deep in the beautiful—but unforgiving—Texas Hill Country, this is hands down one of the most fantastic road races of the year. In fact, it might just feature the best road course of the entire season.

Because of its timing, Jacob's Well serves as a massive proving ground for riders preparing for the State Road Championship. The competition is fierce, and the stakes are high. Spoiler alert: the two-time defending state champ showed up for this edition and walked away with the win.

Here is how the day unfolded, how the team performed, and the hard lessons I took away from a race that pushed me to my limits.

The Course: A War of Attrition

Jacob's Well isn't a race you can fake your way through. It is a pure race of attrition, characterized by relentless undulations and a heavy toll on the legs.

The Tale of the Tape:

• Distance: 83 Miles (5 laps)
• Elevation: 4,500 feet of climbing
• Terrain: Constant ups and downs, grinder-type climbs, and narrow, twisty descents punctuated by cattle guards.
• Surface: Chunky, heavy pavement that actively robs your momentum.

To make matters worse, this year's edition featured the brutal reality of a Texas summer. It wasn’t just hot; it was incredibly humid. That thick, heavy air would end up playing a massive factor in how the race was animated from the very first mile. Massive shoutout to the organizers for putting on such a well-run event despite the extreme conditions.

The Breakaway: Early Moves and Team Tactics

The action started immediately. Right out of the neutral roll-out, a young rider named Archer Myers made his intentions known. He positioned himself directly behind the moto, and the second it pulled off, he launched. You could tell instantly that he had absolutely no desire to sit in the peloton. He was forcing a breakaway, and he was riding hard enough to make sure it stuck.

Recognizing the danger, I gave my teammate Lucas Ferguson a shout.

"You need to go with that. Stay on his wheel, because this breakaway is going to go."

Within minutes, an elite eight-man breakaway was established. Lucas made the cut, which was a huge tactical victory for our three-man squad. Evan Baubacher, another incredibly strong rider, was also in the mix.

Because the field lacked large, organized teams capable of controlling the peloton, the breakaway was given a generous leash. Driven heavily by Archer, the gap quickly ballooned to two minutes, eventually maxing out around 3 minutes and 15 seconds.

The Chase: Searching for Repeatability

Back in the main field, my teammate jaco and I sat in, monitoring the situation. The gap to the breakaway was far too large for a solo bridge attempt, but we knew strong riders like Gabriel, Carson Baker, and Duncan Nunnelly were putting in massive pulls to try and reel it back into manageable territory.

Eventually, the pace surged as groups tried to force a selection to bridge the gap. Yaku successfully initiated a move, forming a strong chase group of about five or six riders.

This is where my race started to fall apart.

When the pace got truly vicious—when we were stringing together those hard, five-to-eight-minute, tear-your-legs-off efforts—I hit a wall. I started feeling the initial twinges of cramps. Worse than the cramps, though, was my lack of repeatability. I could make an effort, but I couldn't recover fast enough to do it again. In road racing, if you can't match those relentless changes in pace, your day at the front is over.

I had to sit up and let jaco's chase group go. They managed to chew the breakaway's lead down to about two and a half minutes, but after suffering from disorganization, it eventually fractured, leaving just Jaco and Duncan to soldier on.

Ultimately, the early breakaway succeeded. On a day that hot and that long, you simply have to clap your hands and congratulate those guys. They earned every second of that gap.