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Wente Crit
4/22/07
12th in 15/16
Juniors 15/16-17/18
Field: 40 (15/16 and 17/18)
Teammates: Adam, Peter, Nick, Jon, Eric, Ye
Today Adam and I got there at 10:10 and just got ready. During my warmup I was pretty lazy, constatly stopping.After about 45 mins on our trainers we went down to the line and got ready. This race I thought would be way harder than yesterdays because my legs werent feeling too good. The race started off fairly easy with some breakaway attempts by AMD and Davis. For the first couple laps I sat in the group trying to always be on the outside, because people were crazy this race during the turns. During one of the laps the group was going really slow, so I got to the front and just started to pick up the pace for about 1/2 lap. After I pulled up, the pace seemed about normal and i dropped back a little. On one of the laps, I got stuck on the inside on one of the turns and got cut off by a Webcore kid. I stayed up, but lost a lot of places. With about 5 laps to go the group was still all together in a big group. I was still feeling fresh but was worried about the sprint because I cant sprint. So I wasnt sure what to do. So I moved more to the front and and was hoping for an attack to come so I could jump on and hopefully not have to compete in the sprint with like 30 guys. But when attacks did happen none of them got away. With one lap to go I wasnt feeling good enough to try and do something so I just sat on just trying not to get dropped. On the last turn I was in the back of the group and by the time I got out of the turn the head of the group was a ways a head. I tried to get catch back on for the sprint, but there was a bad head wind and finished right behind the main group. Overall I was pretty happy with how well i did, but wished I coulda been near the front of the group for the sprint.
Wente RR
4/21/07
14th
Juniors 15/16
Field: 27
Teammates: Adam, Peter, Nick, Chris, Trevor
We got to the race around 10:00 and got registered. Peter, Adam, and I got together and warmed up for about 45 minutes or so. After that we went to the line to do rollouts. The race started off fairly easy, till we got to the hill, then thats when Peter told us to just hammer it up the hill to string people out. Halfway up the hill, somehow I was on Zach Wicks wheel, I couldn't see around him so I thought he was still with the group, but the lead group was already quite aways up. So i tried to catch them but when I got to the top, they had just gone over the overpass. For about a couple miles after that, I was stuck between the lead group and the rest of the people, until Zach and Cody Kaiser caught up to me on the flats, then we rode together till the downhill. I lost Zach's wheel on the downhill because on the one corner with all the haybails I thaught it would be harder and took the turn way to slow. I tried to catch back on but couldn't. A couple minutes later Cody Tapley was on my wheel, until the 180 degree turn where he was riding on the gravel and crashed. It didnt affect me that much because he never pulls anyway. Somewhere on the back of the course Max and Chris caught up to me, along with a giant Swift kid. Nothing exciting happened then, until we started our second lap. About halfway around the 2nd lap it was just me and Chris. We decided we wanted to catch Danile Farhina(San Jose). Once we caught him on the downhill we(Chris and I) decided that I would lead out Chris up the hill to beat Daniel. So we took shorter pulls to try and save our energy because at the time, Daniel looked like the strongest rider. When we got to the hill it was still us 3. I could tell Daniel was getting tired, but i didnt know how well he could do on hills. So with about 500m to go, we went. I put all I had into it, about 10 seconds later I looked back and Daniel was WAY back there. So we took it easy, but always looking over our shoulders to make sure he doenst come blowing past us. Overall it was an OK day, and couldnt wait for the crit.
Date: April 7, 2007
Race: Copperopolis Road Race
Category: Juniors 15-16
Field: 21
Teammates: Miguel, Peter, Nick Abal, Chris, Trevor, Alicia
Place: ?
I got to the race around 7 and got registered. I wasnt really prepared for the race because I hadn't ridden in a while. Once I got registered I got my bike and did roll outs, except I didnt pass 2 times, so I had to block out one of my gears, even though I've made roll outs for 2 years with the same gears. The pace started off rather slow until we got to the base of the hill. As we started going up I felt pretty good just staying in the group. At the top near the trailer parks was when I started to drift back a little. I kept getting back on though, until I couldn't do it anymore and new that if I killed myself here I wouldnt be able to do another lap. When it started to level off more Chris had caught up to me and I picked up the pace to try and catch up to Cody Tapley(DBC). When we finally caught up to him, Alicia wasnt far ahead, so we caught her and she joined our paceline. When the flat and windy road came I tried to pull off, but then Cody would never come around me, he was the same guy that did this to me in Snelling. I felt like yelling at him to come around but I decided not to. When he finally did pull up more, he just paced along side me, so I slowed down, then he slowed down. So I just got in front of him again, because we werent making any ground on the group of people ahead of us. When we turned on the road with all the rollers, I thought everyone was with me, but I looked back and it was just Cody. I decided to wait until Chris and Alicia could catch up, but they were pretty far behind, so I just rode with Cody, basically by myself. At the base of the last steep hill after the rollers, I was by myself. So I just kept going my own pace. I caught up to some old guys on the hill, and decided to hang with them so I could draft off them on the downhill. Thats basically how it was until the second lap. At the top of the feed zone hill on the second lap I looked back and saw Alicia and Chris come around the turn, I decided to wait for them because it would have been boring by myself. Once they caught up we just worked together the rest of the time, nothing special happend on the second lap...... Other than that, im pretty dissapointed on my preformance, and hope to do better this week at Sea Otter.
Alex Gee
Snelling RR
2/24/07
?
Juniors 15-16
Field: 25
Teammates: Peter, Adam, Will, Miguel, Trevor, Chris, Alicia, Nick, Max
After leaving the motel a little late, getting somewhat lost, and having a cop follow us about half the way(keeping us at a slow 40-50mph) we got there around 7:20 or a little later. When I got there I went straight to the registration and got my number. It took me about 15 mins to try and figure out if I got my number on the right way or in the right place because it was my first time doing it... Once i did that I got everything on and got the bike ready. Then thats when I realized that I forgot my water bottles. So I went over to Adam's car and got one(I'll get it to next time). After that it was a little to later to get up on the trainer so I rode up the rode only a couple times just trying to spin for a little. When the race started Peter and I took the front and made the pace at around 17-20mph through the promenade. I still wasn't quite warmed up yet. A couple minutes after the promenade the pace picked up from an attack by Tisdell. That's when the whole group got strung out. Near the top of the Feed zone hill my legs couldn't keep up with the pace anymore and I slowly started to drop back. That's when I knew it was going to be a long race for me. Near the big sweeping right turn with all of the sand on it I caught 2 other people that were dropped. One was Cody, riding for DBC, and one was riding for Delta Velo(forgot his name). We rode together taking turns with short hard pulls, except Cody would never want to pull through, or when he did it was for like 2 seconds. So it was basically just me and the Delta Velo kid working. We took the rest of the 1st lap going around 22-24mph. After the first lap on the REALLY long flat section right before the feed zone the Delta Velo kid had a flat. So we said we would wait for him(because it would only be me working then) but he said he wouldn't do much good, so we took it easy trying to see if he could keep up but he couldn't get a wheel change. So now it was basically just me working because Cody never wanted to work. So I pulled basically the whole 2 laps after, because he would never come around. I tried slowing down, pulling to the other side of the rode and telling him to pull through, but he wouldn't. So every so often I would pick up the pace gradually and see if he could keep up, but he was just glued to my wheel. The last lap came around and I attacked him on the feed zone hill. I got a decent gap on him and just kept up my speed. After the sweeping right hand turn again I got hit with a head wind. That's when he caught me again. So I just kept pulling until we got to the bumpy road. Then I got the thought that he probably has more energy than me because I pulled him along the whole way, and that he would sprint away from me on the hill. So I let up and eventually he came around me for like his first pull in a while, but as he was pulling around me he hit my back wheel and almost went down, and all he said was "woah". After that incident I didn't actually want to have him be pulling. On the last stretch he let up so I went around him, but he got on my wheel. Then about half way up he sprinted past me, I went as hard as I could and came around him at the last second. Overall, it wasn't a good day for me. I learned two things, Not riding for a whole week before a race, and not bringing water during your race really make you feel horrible in the races.
Cherry Pie Criterium
2/11/07
DNF
Cat 4s
Field: 80
Teammates: Peter, Alex, Jason, Eric, James
After doing the Juniors race I felt like I still had some energy left in my legs. So I decided to do the Cat 4 race. This was my first Cat 4 race I've done and I was pretty nervous at the starting line. Once we started all that nervousness was gone. The race started off really slow, going down into turn 1 it seemed like people where hitting their brakes and the group bunched up. There were tons of people in the race this time. I just found a wheel and stayed in the middle to back of the group for a quite a few laps. Then when I was on the wheel of some "Clover Milk" guy (forgot the name, just knew it had to do with milk) he started to get dropped, I tried to bridge the gap but they already had a decent sized gap. So I dropped back and waited for the guy. For a couple laps I was just on his wheel, but whenever we came to the hill, I would always pass him, then on the downhills he would pass me again and I would get back on his wheel. Then he started getting tired and another guy passed me. So I jumped on his wheel until the hill then passed him. The same thing happened, he would always catch right back onto me on the downhill. I did this for a bunch of laps, switching between riders and just getting on their wheels. I could tell they wanted to drop me because they would look back at me like every 5 mins, then they would put their head down and increase the speed a little more. After that for a couple laps I took it easy until the lady pulled me out. Overall I thought that the 4's race was WAY easier than the Juniors race.
Cherry Pie Criterium
2/11/07
11th
Junior 12-16
Field: 24ish
Teammates: Peter, Adam, Alicia,Miguel,Will,Chris,Trevor(Sorry If i forgot someone)
I got to the course around 6:35 and was hoping to work with Adam to help Peter win the sprint. At around 6:50ish everyone got on their trainers under the overpass. We warmed up for about an hour trying to get ready for the start. The race started very fast going downhill into turn 1. The first couple laps it was more about everyone learning the course and noticing where stuff was. Lap after lap I was getting more and more tired. I noticed that I would always lose ground on the 180 turn because I slowed down a lot or was always caught on the outside. Because of that I would have to chase back onto the group on the downhills and on the flats. Until I finally caught up and we were on the hill again. With about 5 laps to go was when the pace really picked up. After about 2 of the last 5 laps I got dropped, but i kept trying to keep the pace up high, trying not to let the gap between me and the field any bigger. On the last lap I knew I couldnt catch them, but remembered what Rick and Nick were talking about fighting for every place. So I pushed it the last lap pulling in another kid, At turn 3 i thought that maybe he would sprint around me on the hill, so I picked it up a little to see if he would stay. When I came to the hill, I sprinted to the line with what energy I had left. After the race, I realized that the rider that was on my wheel the last lap was a lapped rider. Overall it was an "OK" race, but it was really fun
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