Wednesday Motivation: Jon Miller Gets Gap Early, Wins Masters 65-69 Title – Report

When you have a big gap off the front at the National Championships, it probably does not take much motivation to keep pedaling hard, but when Jon Miller of California found himself in that position in the Men’s Masters 65-69 race on Wednesday, he did have someone whispering in his ear.

“The coach; he had a big stick,” Miller said about his motivation for the afternoon. “He was riding around the course and yelling at me. He saw me about ten different places.”

Miller started the race fast and quickly established a large gap back to the other riders. Behind him, Doug Long, Tom Webb, Don Bauder and Eric Perryman jockeyed for position as the primary chaser.

The biggest challenge to Miller’s supremacy on the morning was a crash on the technical off-camber during the third lap.

“I fell down once at the bottom of the downhill,” he said. “I was like, oh crap, the brake bent in and stuff, but it was okay because I had a gap. Everybody told me, ‘Calm down, you gotta get it together.’ You never know, you have to just keep pushing.”

When Miller went down, Webb almost eliminated the gap, but Miller recovered and opened up his lead again. With one to go his advantage was 30 seconds.

The last lap was smooth sailing for Miller. Minus that one crash, he had played it perfectly to win the Stars-and-Stripes. And sometimes a little extra motivation helps, even at the highest level of the sport.

Behind Miller, Webb and Bauder fought for position. Bauder almost caught Webb in the last lap, but the Reno native Webb was able to hold onto his second position. Bauder rounded out the podium in third.

Interviews and results are below.

Men's Masters 65-69 Results: 2018 Reno Cyclocross Nationals

Place	Bib	LAST	First	Team	City ST	Time	Gap
1	438	MILLER	Jon		Newbury Park CA	41:07
2	426	WEBB	Tom		Reno NV	41:47	40
3	428	BAUDER	Donald	Flathead Cycling Race Team	Bigfork MT	41:57	50
4	432	PERRYMAN	Eric		Denver CO	42:38	1:31
5	442	LONG	Doug	360 Racing p/b Kline Van / Wood	Chillicothe MO	42:58	1:51
6	430	PEARSON	Richard	Team Kaos/Joyride Bicycles	Fremont NE	43:18	2:11
7	450	FOX	Thomas		San Francisco CA	43:48	2:41
8	449	WALDMAN	Lee		Wheatridge CO	44:19	3:12
9	427	DILLON	Robert	BMB Racing	Warren VT	44:37	3:30
10	436	SCHWYHART	Mark		Portland OR	46:25	5:18
11	434	LIVESAY	Jonathan	Montrose Bike Shop	La Canada CA	47:04	5:57
12	437	BROOKS	Erik	Egencia	Seattle WA	47:16	6:09
13	441	BARTON	Kurt		Meadow Vista CA	47:19	6:12
14	446	PARKER	Harold	360 Racing p/b Kline Van / Wood	Lenexa KS	47:41	6:34
15	445	FETHERSTON	Bob		Los Gatos CA	48:01	6:54
16	447	SMITH	Timothy		Placerville CA	48:02	s.t.
17	435	DOWNING	Tim		Boulder CO	48:35	7:28
18	444	CRABTREE	Joseph		Pacific Grove CA	49:19	8:12
19	439	KOPPE	Michael		Larkspur CA	39:02	@1Lap
20	429	SHIELDS	Kerry		Advance NC	40:21	@1Lap
21	440	WHITE	Jerry		Auburn NH	40:39	@1Lap
22	433	WELLINGS	Norman		Oskaloosa IA	41:57	@2Laps
DNF	443	SACHS	Richard	HOUSE INDUSTRIES - WITHINGS -	Deep River CT
DNF	431	COWMAN	Terry		Manchester MA

For more from Reno, see our continuing coverage of the 2018 Reno Cyclocross Nationals on our dedicated Nationals page.

Photos from the races and reports are available to license here, with more to be added throughout the next week.

Haven’t yet entered our Nationals Fantasy Game? Enter your team for a chance to win a set of Vittoria Elusion Disc Wheels and Terreno Dry tires.