Jakob Allen

My Sports
Cycling
Speciality
All Around
Road Category
3
Jakob A
Bio
I grew up in Davis, CA the home of the Cycling Hall of Fame and a hotbed for cyclists. As a Junior racer I was mentored by Steve Larsen, a former Team Motorola team member. Training and racing from a young age against cyclists many years older I developed my tactical racing intuition. And while training in the flat central valley of CA I developed my sprinting kick. However, it was in the hills of the coastal range, and the infamous Cardiac Hill in Napa County where I was truly in my element as a Junior racer. I took 10 years off from racing to compete as a NCAA collegiate swimmer for Stanford, where I was on an American Record setting sprint relay, and became an 8 time All-American in the pool. I never gave up my passion for cycling though, and utilized my power to weight ratio to crosstrain up Old La Honda climb outside of Palo Alto. I am currently in grad school at the University of Texas at Austin, studying to get my PhD in Exercise Science. My research and interest involves power training on the bike and I love being able to apply my studies to racing. I returned to racing last year and am excited to see where I can go with it!
 
Goals
  • Win a Cat 3/4 Driveway mini-series
  • Win at Tulsa Tough in Cat 3
  • Podium at 2018 Texas State Crit/Road Championships
  • Support teammates in meeting their goals as a domestique
 
Highlights
  • 3/23 Driveway Series Cat 4/5
  • 3/30 Driveway Series Cat 4/5
  • 4/6 Driveway Series Cat 4/5
  • 4/13 Driveway Series Cat 4/5
  • 4/20 Driveway Series Cat 4/5
  • Pedal Hard Spring Fling Mini Series
Reports & Blogs
Quick writeup here. The race was off to a really fast start with other strongly represented teams sending guys off the front regularly. One such break looked like it was developing ... morewell, with about 4 guys and two from one of those teams. I decided to try my luck at bridging up despite my pre race goal of not doing anything stupid prior to half way through. After bridging up we worked pretty well together for a lap or two then a few more people bridged up including my Ramsey. I believe by this point we had about 8 people in our breakaway with a 5-10 second gap on the main field. Didn't seem like the other teams were willing to give it full gas for the lap or two it would have taken to really solidify the break. At one point this group broke up and I ended up with one other guy off of the front. Manged to work with him for a lap then sprinted and got the preem! At this point I needed to recover a little bit so I let the main field catch back up. Shortly thereafter it all came back together and stayed that way until the end. Ramsey kept himself in perfect position to contest for the win in the final sprint, and I was able to jump from about 25th place in the pack to get 8th in the final lap. Overall really fun race and great victory for the team! Now to defend the jersey...
Cyclist:
Report Date:
Thursday, 22 Mar, 2018
That was definitely a learning experience. I placed myself way too far back in the pack and didn't have the room to move up when it mattered. Overall, course was fantastic, weather ... morewas beautiful, and the organizers did a great job of hosting one fun bike race! I wish I could rewind the clock and stick in the front of the group, because once the race got rolling it was pretty tough to move up. Oh well, there's always next year!

Thanks to Gu for providing me with the delicious, and performance enhancing Gu Roctane Energy Drink mix! It kept the legs fresh for the final sprint even if my own tactics prevented me from being able to contest it where I wanted to be.
Cyclist:
Report Date:
Saturday, 20 Jan, 2018
It's not easy to race after driving 20 hrs! That's just how I want to preface this report. This was a Cat 2/3 combined race featuring many national caliber teams and even some international ... moresquads. It was a fast paced, 281 weighted average watts, 184 bpm, 50 min sufferfest through beautiful downtown Waukesha, Wisconsin. The course was phenomenal, featuring beautiful pavement, and a brief uphill, and then a blistering hairpin turn back onto the finishing stretch. I held my position in the middle of the pack the whole race, despite having to unclip and put my foot down behind a crash after about 15 min of racing. At the start/finish line on the bell lap I took a flyer from the group and went into the next three turns first but didn't get much of a gap. Heart rate for the last lap averaged 199 bpm, and after that acceleration I didn't have anything else left in the tank for the finishing sprint. I ended up mid pack, but still on my bike, which I will call a success.
Cyclist:
Report Date:
Sunday, 18 Jun, 2017
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