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Timpani Criterium
8-1-04
1st (Juniors) and 35th(4’s)
Juniors 17-18 and Cat 4
Field: 16 and 61
Teammates: Peter, Josh, Lars, Charles, Jason Kent
Before the Juniors race we had almost no warm-up because of problems at registration. Since Josh and I were the only 17-18s we decided that we would have to help one of our 15-16s get a win today. We stayed aggressive for the whole of the race, sending groups of two down the side of the road and letting the other teams chase us down. We sent off Charles when the group thinned out a little bit and blocked for him by riding easy tempo for the remainder of the race. He finished with the win and a 40 second gap ahead of the competition and I crossed the line with Josh right behind me.
The Cat. 4 race was relatively calm compared to the Juniors. I held a good position in the front of the group never dropping more than 20 places back for most of the race. Several times I nearly crashed because I was pinched between the other riders and a bush sticking out on corner 1 or because some one in front of me had been in the same situation. In the end of the race, I had no idea what lap we were on so I kept fighting for position and wondering if we were entering the bell lap. When the final lap came, I didn’t know because I could not see the lap cards that were placed low on the course. My teammates and I were caught by surprise and when the pace picked up I struggled to hang on, but with a bad position entering the lap I had no way to make up the ground. I finished in the group and felt I had a fairly successful race, except for the end.
Sea Otter Road Race
4-15-04
30th place
Juniors
Field: 73
Teammates: Peter, Charles, Julian, Max, Shawn, Lars, Tyler, JP, Gaelen
Started off pretty fast as we descended onto the course and hit Barloy Canyon (The Wall) and I survived only to get dropped on the false flat at the top as the pace picked up. I rode with Tyler a little bit in a small group of about 5 people, which grew to about 10 as we picked people off the back of the group. I realized we weren’t going to get anywhere if we didn’t work together so I started telling the guys to ride in a rotating paceline to spread the work and it worked well until some people got tired and got dropped. I bonked on the third time up the wall and Lars and Tyler caught up to me and we worked together until they were too tired on the last lap. I worked with another junior until the climb out into Laguna Seca when I rode away from him.
Mclane Road Race
3-15-04
Finished
Cat 5
Field: 120
Teammates: Jason Kent, Comrade General Charles, Lars, Gaelen
This was my first road race so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had just come off a cold after Cherry Pie and was out for the rest of February. We rolled off on the course and things stayed pretty boring until Lars decided to ride into the ditch and fall. The rest of the race was ridden at a pretty constant pace of around 25mph, more or less. On the last lap, there was a pretty big crash on one of the rollers that literally happened right in front of me. The guy in front of me had crashed and I had some trouble catching the group since I was in such a big gear and had to stop. We were about 3k from the finish, so I finished with a small group about a minute back from the finishing group.
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