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Race: Cat’s Hill
Date: May 7, 2005
Finish: 9th
Category: 15/16
Field: 22
Teammates: Nick, Ye
This race was hard! I got to the course with plenty of time to spare. I walked the course twice to get the full experience. After I registered, I went back to the car and met up with Jason and Nicholas. We decided to go watch some of the 5’s race, to see how they handled the hill. One racer thought he could go up it in his little cog; he literally stopped, got off his bike, and ran the rest of the hill… those crazy 5’s! After we watched some of the 5’s race, we went back to the car to get ready, and warm-up. As we were warming up, I made the mistake of eating a power bar to late, a mistake that would cost me overall positions. The start of the race was unbelievably fast, the 15/16’s and the 17/18’s both started at the same time. Daniel attacked off the front and ripped the group apart. Within the first hill there was no more main field. The first time up the hill, a felt good, I heard some gears crunching really hard on a chain, and a junior behind me shouting a lot of profanity. I soon realized that it was Tyler whose gears were messed up. He came by me and told me to get on his wheel, and then sped off. There was no possible way I could have stayed on that wheel. So basically for the rest of the race, I was just trying to gain positions in the race, it was very difficult to tell whether I person was an LGBRC team member, or a Tieni Duro member. At the end of the race, I was completely drained, that Powerbar felt like it was in my throat the whole race. But I placed top ten to my surprise, so I feel good about the race.
Race: Golden State a.k.a Folsom Crit
Date: May 15, 2005
Finish: 7th
Category: 15/16
Field: 20ish
Teammates: Nick, Ye
I did not decide to race this race until a week before, but I’m glad I did; the one word that comes to mind when describing this race, TACTICS.
I woke up at 4:30 so Nicholas could pick me up early to get to the course with time to spare. When we got to the race, I noticed it had an “early birds” feel to it, both of the races where around office buildings, and both where completely flat. I had a good warm-up on the track and around the office buildings. When the race started, it started fast, Davis was up at the front, and it seemed like one of them was going to attack. I was right, quietly, Alex told Julian to “go”. When Julian attacked the group, I expected that the rest of the group would chase, but with Davis at the front, they blocked, and no one went. I have never been in a situation where I can affect a races outcome so I didn’t know what to do. Nicholas’s dad, Dan, was yelling times from the side, and in three laps, Julian had gone from 5 sec. to 15 sec. It wasn’t because Julian was going faster; it was because the group was going slower. There were some attacks in the group, but none that accomplished anything besides tiring the group out (maybe that was the point) but by the middle of the race I was done rolling around. So I attacked, and they followed, I think there were some other people who also felt the same way because the group began to actually race. After the initial “boost” of the pack, it slowed up again, and to no surprise, Davis was on the front! So basically, it was Nick, a SGW guy, some random racer, and me leading the whole group. Once the Davis guys saw this, they started yelling at us to get off the front, and saying that we were wasting our energy, and that we were only pulling because we didn’t want Davis to win… DUH! I mean, please correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it my teams job to try and get a win? So I didn’t listen to the Davis guys and I kept pulling. After I pulled off, Ben Barsy-Rhyne (I’m just guessing about the spelling) was on the front and began to pull pretty hard. So I'm thinking, “Cool; now we will get one of the strongest riders to help catch Julian.” But no, as soon as Alex felt the group speed up, Alex told Ben, “Ben, no, no, no pull off.” And then Ben pulled off! It was as if Ben was racing for the Davis team. When he pulled off, the SGW guy attacked and brought the group even closer to catching Julian. I was behind the SGW guy and after he pulled off, Nicholas came up from behind me and told me and Ye to get on his wheel. So after he pulled off, we were almost on top of Julian so I just towed the group back to Julian. Finally, Julian has been caught and there are three laps left. Those were the slowest three laps n the whole race. No one wanted to work. I wasn’t going to work because I was practically dying from trying to catch Julian, and no one else wanted to work because they would be too tired at the end to sprint. On the last corner of the last lap the group was basically the same when it started. It all came down to a sprint; I was pretty dead that my sprint wasn’t very good. I believe Ben won and I finish 7th, right in front of Julian. The Davis had complete control over that race, I was really wowed by the kind of tactics used by them, and I hope that I am in the same situation someday
J.P. LeClair
Copperopolis
03/26/05
Around 15th maybe…
Juniors 15/16
Field:21
Teammates: Nicholas, Ye, John, Navin
I got to the race at around 7:20, so it left me with more than enough time to get ready. After I got my number I went back to Jason’s car where everybody else had set up their trainers. I had a good warm-up my legs felt good. I knew that I would be able to race at my best because I had been really lazy the past week and I didn’t follow the Testa training schedule. As the 15/16’s were warming up together we discussed the race tactics. The plane was for Nicholas to try to get into any break-away and then for the remaining members of the team to block the pack. This plan pretty good until we got the news that Collin was racing. This really put a damper on this. Now it seemed that the plan had changed from Nick trying to get into a break-away and the rest of us blocking, to nick trying to stay in the pack and the rest of us chasing of the back. When the race started, I felt really good. The starting pace was slow, and everybody in the pack was very social like always. When we came up to the first hill I realized that this race was going to hurt really badly. As we ascended up the climb I noticed that Navin, Ye, and John had fallen off the back and I was also starting to fall off. Luckily, the top wasn’t too far ahead and I managed to get back on. The rest of the lap was pretty simple; the only thing that was challenging was the crap roads. After the fast decent just before the finish my lower back had become really painful. My bike is actually 2 in. to small for me so this would make sense. The second time though the feed hill I knew that I was not going to be able to stay with the group up the big hill. Sure enough when the big hill started, I fell off the back. When I reached the top of the hill, I met up with another 15/16 racer and we decided to work together. We kept up a pretty good pace throughout the whole second lap. At the last hill before the fast decent my back was killing me. Going down that really bumpy decent was almost unbearable. At the end of the race I decided to sprint for the finish with my fellow racer just for fun. It was a fun race; I wish I could have stayed with the group to help Nicholas more, and I wish I hadn’t been so lazy the week before!
Cherry Pie Crit
2/6/05
7th
Cat Jr. 15/16
Field: 20
Teammates: Jordan, Ye, Nicholas, Greg, Glenn
Sooooooo cool. Finally I stayed w/ the group until the end. Training paid off. I felt good at the start of the race, usually I get stuck behind the guy who has trouble clicking in to his pedals and I get stuck at the back but I was lucky this time. I was surprised how slow the pack went from turn 1 to the hill. I stayed towards the front of the pack most of the race, until the very last lap when I was pushed to the back at the last turn. I tried to sprint up the hill to gain some of my place back but a rider blew up fight in front of me and I was boxed in. It was the first race for me that was FUN! I guess in the field sprint you either get in a good position or you don’t. I feel really good about this season. Tieni Duro is really gonna RULE!!
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