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Pinole TTT
Date: 3/26/06
Cat: Jr. 17/18
Place: 1st
Teammate: Lars
Due to the fact that I have been EXTREMELY lazy when it comes to race reports I will make this one extra detailed.
I have been looking forward to this race for quite some time now so I was really excited going to the race. I always have viewed one of my talents on the bike to be time trials, or at least holding a hard pace for a long time, so I had pretty high expectations for this race. My goal for the race was to beat Charles and Tyler's time of 44:09 and I was very optimistic that we would come close to that time. The only real competition at the race was two racers from LGBRC, Ben Barsi-Rhyne, and Jim Ryan. I ride with the guys all the time on the track and I knew that, although both are very strong, they weren't as ready for this race as Lars and I were. After a really long warm-up and some time to discuss the race with Lars, we headed up to the start/finish. I had never done a real TT in my life so I was pretty nervous at the start. My main concern for the start was not to start too fast or too slow and since Ben and Jim was starting one minute behind us, it made me even more nervous. Not knowing how fast to start, I took to easy way out and told Lars that he would start. As the race started I was really happy about the start I felt really strong and not cold at all. About a minute into the race we caught our minute team, and ten seconds after that we caught the two minute team. Even though both of those teams that we caught were 13/14's it still feels really good to catch and pass people. At the first hill I could tell that Lars wasn't feeling as strong as me so I let him go up the hill first so I would drop him. It was after that hill that we pass the only other Jr. races, which meant that the only other team who beat us was the two LGBRC racers. Knowing this, I wanted to start picking up the pace a bit, but as I did Lars started to fall of the back. So I slowed up a bit and pulled until Lars was recovered. After Lars was recovered, we got back into our rhythm, but I took slightly longer pulls to help Lars because we still had half of the course to go. At the last climb before the finish, I knew Lars was dying; he had done a great job but still needed to go up the hill. We started the climb and immediately Lars fell back behind me. I started to yell at him, encouraging him to make it up the hill and to the finish line. I kept on looking back expecting to see the LGBRC riders' just behind us but I didn't. This made me yell at Lars even more, saying anything that I could think of to try and squeeze every last bit of power out of him. After the hill I pulled until the line, still yelling at Lars. Our time, 46:13, was not what I hoped for but it got us the win. The LGBRC guys came in more than two minutes after us. Lars did really great and gave it his all. he was a BEAST!
Mclane Crit
3/4/06
Jr's
6th
Tyler, Lars, Julian, Nick, Jordan, Andy, Antony, Zach
There are certain races where everything goes right for you, and certain races where you just feel bad. McLane crit was definitely the latter. I got horrible nights sleep due to the fact that we forgot to turn on the heater in the room. I woke up at 3:30 shivering and I just laid there half asleep for what seemed like forever. At the race I couldn't get warm, and my legs just felt bad. On top of all that, the week before at Snelling I got a really bad saddle sore, and it had gotten worse as the week progressed. When the race started I had trouble getting my foot clipped in so I was at the back of the pack for the first couple of laps. Some kid went down right in front of me and I nearly went down myself. Knowing that I didn't have enough to really do anything to contribute to the race, I basically just sat in and took up space. In the final lap, the Davis guys had organized a lead out for Joe and started to pick up the pace. The rider in front of me let a gap form in front of him and when I tried to go around and close it, I was blocked by some 12 year old kid going half the speed that I was going. So after slowing down to avoid the kid, the gap was too big to bridge so I just tried to salvage whatever placing I could. Good Job Tyler for using the Davis train to help you win.
Snelling RR
2/25/06
Jr. 17/18
12th
Lars, Nick, Jordan, Ye
Snelling RR has always been a fun race for me. It was the first RR I ever did and it was the first race where I won something. I had a goal to do pretty well in this race but due to illness I did horribly. On Wednesday of the week before Snelling, I caught some sort of intestinal thing and basically had Montezuma's revenge for the rest of the week. It seemed to go away before the race but I was still really dehydrated. The race started slow as usual, until Blake made a massive attack at the end of the first lap to try and catch some lone rider up the road. I was happy to see Jordan go with him but I soon saw Jordan slowly coming back into the group saying that he was dropped. So now we had to chase, two strong riders, 20 sec. in front of 19 other riders. But did anyone besides, say 4 people, help chase? No, not one. The group was full of riders who were strong enough to stay with the pack, but not strong enough to do anything else. So basically it was me, Jordan, Ye, and Lars with the help of one other rider to bring these guys back. Somewhere in the race Lars dropped out and then it was just down to three of us willing to work. Every time we would try and organize the group, someone had to mess it up. It was like trying to run a preschool. By the end of the second lap, the two man break away had gained 3 minutes on the field. As all of this was happening, I kept pushing water. But since I had been so dehydrated, my body didn't accept it. So my belly just kept getting fuller and fuller. So full that I started to throw up all the liquids that I had been putting in my body. I was still thirsty but no matter how much I drank, it seemed that I could never get enough. By the middle of the 4th lap I was done, I just dropped off the back and finished. That race sucked.
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