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Cloterium - Santa Rosa
(Race 2)
Cat 4
Teammates - Eric - Nick A –Jason – Alex
Place: eighteen to twentysomethingth
After the junior race I got back on the rollers while drinking a lot of water, ate a cliff bar and was ready to go in about fifteen minutes. Got to the line then did roll out again, and managed to loose my spot, and had to start at the back row. Whistle goes and Jason sprints off the line into the first corner leading the group, I get to the first corner and the back of the group and see Jason drilling it through the second corner, I basically didn’t know what to think. So after he pulled off on the front straightaway I had to work so hard to get back up to the front section of the pack for 3-4 laps. So then it was kinda of uneventful apart from the primes where Eric won one (Congrats on the olive oil + Spaghetti). I remember looking up once and seeing 9 to go then with 3-4 to go the pace began to rise and with 4 to go this was when Jason decided to attempt to pull me to the front and lead me out. Of course it didn’t happen because of his fast cornering and someone cutting in front of me. But next time around we managed to be in the same place of opposite sides of the group. That didn’t work either. So he went……two to go……things get interesting since it was a prime lap……Anyway Nick is behind Eric, from what I heard Nick got hit from behind causing Eric to get hit, then Eric gets cut off from both sides, high sides or something and then ends up on the ground with some other person. Last lap I thought I would just sit in and try as hard as I could. Was sitting front to middle of the pack went into the last corner and could see Jason ahead by about 10 bikes…. I don’t know where I finished but guessing around 20 something. Yeah so that was my 3 race weekend thing. Thanks again Jason for driving.
Cloterium- Santa Rosa
5/6/2007
Juniors 15/16
Place: 5th
Field: 15/16’s + 17/18’s (don’t know how many people 20-30??)
Teammates: Adam, Alex, Nick. A, Eric, Ye
We arrived at the race before reg. opened…(due to our decision to get up at 4:00 AM) Rode over there with Jason and looked at the front straight away (very long to sprint from the last corner). So got my warm-up in on the rollers again, I rolled for about 40-45 minutes… I guess that’s how you say it. Anywho after rolling took about 5 laps around the track in low to high m.e because the officials were running late. Did roll out, got to the line STARTED my polar, felt confident and clipped in and went. The first 3-4 laps flew by and I was sitting in at the front of the pack feeling great. I heard they cut our race short, but I saw 6 laps to go and then the next time I saw the lap card it was three to go. With two to go Ye, myself and some dude who was riding a Callook (Calfee + Look) got into a break, with a small gap going into turn 2, Calfee/Look guy was on the front, Ye in second and myself third, I was trying hard to stay on because I thought it was the last lap…. Calfee/Look pulled off and Ye took a short pull leaving me. I took my pull along the back stretch pulling Ye behind me going into the last corner, where we got caught. And I realized we still had one to go. So…… sitting 6-7 wheel from the front for most of the lap until people started sprinting very early and began to come around me. With the and my cat-like reflexes I got out of the seat and gave it everything and finished behind Cody who rides for Spine I believe. Honestly, I thought I could have done better in the sprint at the time because about 8-10 people crossed before me I think, but when I went to check the results later I found I was 5th and that there were mostly 17/18’s that finished in front of me. (Great Success)
Cat’s Hill
5/5/2007
Field: 24 15/16s, 20+ 17/18s
Place: 11th in 15/16, 23th overall
Teammates: Adam, Alex, Nick A., Peter, Will, Andy, Ye, Eric, Nick J.
Yeah so… Cat’s Hill…..very steep it hurt going up. I got to the race nice and early as usual thanks to Jason. Watched Jason warm-up with Nick and then watch him race, then ate a bagel about three hours before the juniors race. Got a pretty good warm-up in on the rollers. Got to the start line not expecting too much due to the hill, felt decently good though…. Race started and I forgot to start my polar. First couple of laps were fun until I hit the hill for the 5th time where my legs basically didn’t want anymore hill and they stopped. Yeah so I got dropped, tagged on to some dude from San Jose Bike Club, yeah he just towed me around. On the last lap on the downhill attacked before the last corner, shelled the SBC kid and that was that. Ended up 23rd overall and 11th in the 15/16’s
Santa Cruz Crit
4/15/07
Category: 4
Teammates: Jason, Eric, Zach (For Motivation)
This was my first Cat 4 race and I felt slightly nervous about entering. Warmed up by riding the course a few times getting to know the turns, condition of the road and felt pretty good about it with Jason and Eric. I liked the course and from what I heard from Jason so did he. At the start Jason made me line up next to him and Eric in a tiny gap at the front that I thought I wasn’t going to fit into. Zach’s first word of advice was stay on the inside for the hairpin which I managed to do for the majority of the race. His second word of advice, stay on your bike and don’t fall off. It was 20 laps around this track. I felt good and was covering breaks, and riding at the front of the pack with Jason and Eric. There wasn’t any serious attempts for breaks, so for the whole race it was a group with nothing going on. With 3 to go I stood up and was getting ready to get up the hill for the 16th time, and my legs just didn’t want to go so I got dropped. Then after a lap of riding with some Specialized dude I got pulled with him. It wasn’t a very good race compared to the downhilling the day before, but the good side of this race was that it was a pretty drastic improvement from Cherry Pie. For those that don’t remember I basically got dropped on the 2nd or 3rd lap of Cherry Pie. So far it was my favorite race to be in because everyone seemed to know what was going on and also it was a fun track. Also I basically discovered that Crits are the best things ever. So the training pays off, if you do it and I have to do more harder stuff I guess.
Sea Otter
4/14/07
Category: Downhill, Junior Beg 14 -16
Place: 11th
Field: 160
Time: 3min.20.55
Friday: Arrived at Laguna Seca Friday morning for pre registration. Managed to get to see most of the team before we all went our different ways. Rode my bike over to the downhill course, where I walked part of it, to see what I was letting myself in for! My 1st practice started at 11am, and I managed to get 2 downhill runs in before time was up. Practice went good, got to familiarize myself with the course. My impression of the course was that it had a bit of everything from jumping, rhythm sections, to big hit drops, and straight down technical downhills. Weather was great, warm and sunny.
Saturday: Arrived for practice at 8am and again managed to get another 2 runs in before it ended. Weather was great, rain was forecast and I was lucky as I rode my course in the dry. The downhill started at 11 am and the race had a large amount of people competing. My start time was 2.55pm which meant I had time to watch other competitors and just wait. Then we had torrential rain and wind. This delayed my race time by 1 hour and I thought that I was going to have to ride my course in the rain. So I got caught in the rain in the paddock and had to go back to the car to warm up and sat there for a while, with the heat on, with the Larsen’s, Jason and Zach. (This was at 11:40 ish) So basically very jenky and cold. Luckily the rain stopped about 45 minutes before my start. Okay the race the top part of the course is all fast jumping and burms and it was horribly muddy and everyone was sliding everywhere. As the ground was sandy it absorbed a lot of water and turned the course to thick slippery mud. Then once you get out of the 2 burms its into a log drop which I nailed perfectly. (I was happy) Then the course turned to the technical downhill where I made no mistakes and stayed upright. I got down to the hip jump and then caught the person that had started in front of me. I got by him after 4-5 seconds of yelling and braking. Then got to the flat 70 yard sprint and felt as though I wasn’t going to do good as I got across the line because of being held up. Then over the loudspeaker the announcer said that I was in 11th . The winning time was 3:12 and second was 3:15 so for my second downhill race ever I felt I did pretty good.
Copperopolis Road Race
4/7/07
Juniors 15-16
Field: ?
Teammates: Peter, Nick A, Alex, Miguel, Alicia, Trevor
Place: ?
This is my first race report so bear with me. I stayed at Lance’s cabin and pre-rode the loop getting lost and taking a short cut. Rode it with Trevor, Lance, Jason, Eric and Zach. I felt good about the race after riding the loop and the night before the race.
Got up at 4:50 race day and ate some of Zach’s Granola.(Thanks Zach) Left the cabin at 5:45 to get to Milton for 6:45 – 7:00. Got in a good warm-up before the race, then with about ten minutes before my start time, started to feel a pain in my stomach. Once the race started and we got around the first corner it went away somehow. I was with the front of the group behind Miguel and felt good and began to prepare myself for the climb. I got about two thirds of the way up the climb feeling strong and fresh when my chain decided to fall off. Luckily I wasn’t taken out. Got it back on, about fifteen seconds behind the group, put it in the big ring to sprint to catch up then back into the small ring because it got steep and it fell off for a second time. Disappointed I got it back on, and realized it was over and I was dropped. Got to the top of the climb and saw Alex a ways up and caught him up on the flats. Then some random Davis dude joined us and we kinda pace lined for a while. Alex fell off and the Davis guy fell as well so I waited for Alex, and the Davis dude passed us. By this time we caught Alicia. Alicia and I basically pace lined for the rest of the race while Alex flew up the road catching the Davis guy I suppose. I caught the Davis guy just after the finish line on the start of the second lap, asked him if he had seen Alex and he said that he shot by him. Alicia and I rode up the climb together and caught Alex with some motivation from Zach and Nick as their group passed us. From there it was pretty uneventful the only thing that happened was my water bottle shot out of the cage on the downhill and then Alex, Alicia and I finished the race together. Overall, pretty disappointing for a first race on the 595 but still brought it home safe!!
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