Inaugural Post
I suppose I’m switching blogs. There’s really no particular reason for it; I just decided I’d mix things up a bit. Please note that I’m not promising to keep this one any more up-to-date than the last. So don’t get your hopes up.
It looks like I have some catching up to do. The last time I wrote was right before the Sea Otter Road Race. It turned out a lot like Copperopolis with the short story being me getting shelled and riding a slow last lap by myself.
Berkeley Hills, which I did in the 3s, ended up being a lot better. I think the course suits me fairly well because the climbs are more like huge rollers, so I can comfortably sit in and have plenty left for the finish. That’s exactly what I did, making my move with a few hundred meters to go. After passing a guy, who, although I didn’t know it at the time, was off the front of my race, I took the lead and came across the line first with a small gap.
Panoche aka Road Race Districts turned out to be a really hard race. We, the 17-18s, did the full course, which was close to 70 miles. It happened to be a scorching hot day, and I actually took water from every feed. Every feed, that is, except the last (and most crucial). The condensation built up on what would have been a refreshingly cool bottle of water made it slippery. Needless to say, I dropped the bottle. Luckily a motorcycle ref came up to our field, which was then dwindled down to about five or six guys, to hand out extra water. But unfortunately once everyone else got their water he drove off. So I had to ride the last leg of the race without water. I don’t know if you could call it dehydrated, but I was pretty pooped by the end. For the second year in a row I got beaten by Peter Taylor (Team Specialized) in the sprint.
My next notable race was Mount Hamilton. Finally, for the first year ever, I hung up the climb. The rest of the race ended up being pretty easy, so I figured I would have a pretty good shot at placing well in the sprint. I’m almost certain that I could’ve won it, but I had bad placement leading up to the finish, so I got boxed in and finished fourth. That’s still good given that last year I rode the last 45 miles by myself.
By this time I had accumulated 46 of 25 required upgrade points, so I figured then would be a good time to make the leap into the 2s. Then I thought, What should be my first Pro/1/2 race? I need something memorable for this momentous occasion. Then it came to me: the Pescadero Road Race! When I saw that the Pro/1/2 race at Pescadero would be 105 miles long, I knew that I had made the right choice. This was confirmed when I woke up at the hotel in Half Moon Bay and saw that it was raining. Of course, it was a really hard race. I only made it up the climb with the peloton one out of four times, but, other than on the finishing lap, I managed to catch back up. Coming in 32nd I only beat four other finishers, but I was proud of my performance considering that there were about 55 starters. Daniel Holloway of Team Holowesko Partners-Felt was even there, and he was one of the 19 who dropped out, although I’m sure he was just taking it easy.
This year I went to my first USA Cycling Development Camp. There’s a lot to write about it that I don’t feel like writing, but the main idea is that it was a whole lot of fun. Straight out of the camp my brother, my dad, and I went to the Gold Nugget Junior Stage Race. Every year I complain that people won’t come to Gold Nugget, and this year will not be any different. The courses were the same as all the other years: scenic and challenging. So even without tons of competition, finishing will by no means be easy. There were only five guys in my race, three of whom were from Southern California, which should really make us Northern California juniors ashamed. I was completely wasted by the end. This race will quickly die off without more interest, so disregard its undeserved reputation of being a joke and come to Gold Nugget! As for my placing, I had a chance to win the overall with a time bonus on the final stage but flatted with about a mile to go. For those of you keeping score at home, that has only been my second flat in a race.
My next race will be another stage race, albeit a slightly larger one: the Tour de l’Abitibi.
