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The day after the road race at Nationals was the time trial. The course was out-and-back, going up a gradual climb for about six miles out and then coming back down. My brother had a great ride that I knew would be hard to top. Sure enough, I was several seconds slower than he was for the same course. Nevertheless, I finished in the top 30 of my age category, which I thought was satisfactory. Hilly time trials are not something that I practice much at all, and I could tell because somehow I managed to use my glutes almost exclusively, so my butt was really sore afterward. After the time trial, we drove down to a river that my road race course crossed. We swam around a little although the water was a little shallow. It wasn’t quite as nice as the swimming holes in New Hampshire, but it was still fun. To end the day, we had dinner at a pizza place in Bend with a bunch of other northern Californian families. We also drove my brother’s crit course. Somehow USA Cycling always manages to find some pretty bad courses for Nationals, and this year it was the crit course for the 15-16s and younger. It went around a warehouse or something and included a very slight climb and descent as well as some sketchy-looking turns. I was worried that Alex might get caught in a crash.
On the following day, I went for a ride in the morning with my dad. The riding around Bend seems to be pretty nice with plenty of rollers and climbs and very little traffic. I could certainly feel the efforts of the previous two days in my legs. Later in the day was the crit. Alex made sure to get a good spot at the front of the pack while lining up, but a crash in the first lap forced him to the back, where he stayed for the remainder of the race. He said that the course wasn’t as sketchy as we thought earlier, and he managed to finish safely.
By Sunday afternoon I was finally back home. The main part of my season is now over, and I don’t have too much to show for it other than a dent in my frame. But I’m still having fun, and I’m looking forward to ending my season with some Velo Promo races.