Ups and Downs

Waking up this morning I rolled over onto my side and was reminded by my road rash that I raced my bike this weekend. Looking at my skin stuck to the bed sheets it was quite difficult to manage myself out of bed this morning. But in the end it was all worth it. Cause in the end I got a 4th place on GC at San Dimas Stage Race, in my very first Category 2 race. It was an exciting weekend with lots of ups and downs to say the least.

The three day stage started off with the up hill time trial on Friday.  It was 3.8 miles from the bottom to the top on a gradual ascent. I had a reasonable warm up before my start. I was very tired for some reason I couldn't tell you at that time. Fifteen minutes before my start I consumed a caffeine enhanced shot took off some clothing and went to the start. Whenever I hear the countdown, every little detail around me gets zoned out. I have a hard time remembering conversations and what not. Anyways, I rolled out of the start house getting up to speed and I was feeling comfortable. Too comfortable. So ramped it up to get my heart up a little more. This was mistake number one. I put myself into one of the worst positions possible. I was cracked within the first half mile of the course and I hadn't even begun to climb. I spent the next half a mile just recovering. The only upside was that I past both my 30 second and minute man before the first switch back. Passing your opponents  in a TT is always a good feeder for your confidence level. The last half of the course I cracked again going into a head wind section. So once again forced into recovery. Finally I saw the 1k to go banner and proceeded to completely turning myself inside out. I crossed the line at 14:19. It was three seconds faster then last years winning time set by Cal Giant/Specialized's John Bennet. I was quite confident that I may have won until I saw the results. Someone managed to best my time by five seconds. Even though I was second it may have been the most poorly performed TT to date. My pacing was awful. It upset me that I was able to wear the yellow for the next stage, but I was able to pick up the white jersey for best young rider. My teammates Alex Brookhouse and Jason King finished 5th and 14th.

The next stage was the road race. I woke up with an excess amount of phlegm in my nasal cavities, so I knew it wasn't going to be a good day for me  It was a very short road race for a Category 2 field rounding out to 56 miles. It was a 7 mile course, and we were doing 8 laps around it. By no means was I complaining about the distance at the end. I got to the start of the road race in my white jersey and I was really tired. I managed to get a total of 5 hours of sleep. I've always had a hard time sleeping before race day, mainly cause I have a bad habit of processing every scenario that can possibly occur. Although for this race,  that was not true. What happened in the road race was unpredictable. A break of two riders got away second lap and got a gap up to over a minute. On the five lap, our field was neutralized for the pro/1 field to pass us. The race coordinators couldn't have picked a worse place to neutralize us. It was on the skinniest part of the course. Squeezing  200 plus riders onto this narrow strip of road, there was bound to be miss communication somewhere. Towards the back of the field some pro/1 riders crashed into the back of our field. I was near the front so I wasn't able to see or hear anything. The race got back underway and I feeling terrible. I had a hard time getting my heart rate up. My legs were burnt up. The last 2 laps of the race I felt like I hit the wall and I was just hanging on by luck. The break was never caught and finished about two minutes ahead of the field. I managed to finish with the pack so I got the same time as everyone, except for the people in  the break. However, when the mixed pro/1 and 2 riders were managing themselves back onto their bikes during the neutral, me along with some others believe that there were 3 category 2 riders that left the field and hitched a ride onto the back of the pro/1 field. Unfortunately, it was never really proven because race officials said they really didn't have the time to investigate. Because the break survived I ended up dropping down to 4th on GC, and I lost the young riders jersey. The rider who took it from me is believed to be one of the riders who hitched onto the back of the pro/1 field while we were neutralized. In my book, that's an automatic DQ. But whats done is done, so my main concern was to just recover for the next days stage.

The third and final day was the criterium. It was a six corner crit with a slight uphill and a slight downhill. My goal was to hold on to my 4th place on GC so I could stand on the podium for my first category 2 stage race. I was fortunate to get a little better recovery then the previous night. Although the phlegm was still there, I was feeling more confident today. Still very tired, I took lots of caffeine enhanced drinks and foods to get my body going. The crit started out fast as crits usually are. The first couple of laps was a good test to see how my legs were doing and they were performing much better than yesterday. I was able to move up through the field  very easily. I didn't have the legs to contest in any hot spot sprints so I just tried to stay in the front. Once I saw the lap cards say 5 to go, I started the fight for position. Going into the last lap I was 3rd wheel. Not ideal, but safe. I didn't have contentions on winning. I just wanted my 4th on GC so I could step on the podium. Going into the final turn into the finish I was sitting 8th wheel. This was it. All I had to do was go through the turn and sprint to the line. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. A rider in front of me took out his front wheel by attempting to swerve around a bot dot. I'm not hear to tell people how to ride their bikes, but after getting front row seats to this spectacular crash, riders like this need a little bit more experience with the bike before doing one of  the biggest stage races on the west coast. I ended up, from what others observed, doing a complete front flip over the bars and into the barriers head first and then sliding on the pavement on my right side. I got up within a second got on my bike and crossed the finish. Lucky for me the crash was within the last 5 laps so I got the same time as everyone else and kept my GC. Although I was in contentions for a top ten, I'm still happy with my efforts. Sorry I didn't elaborate as much as I wanted to, I've been really tired.

Stepping onto the podium yesterday was quite the experience. Even though I wasn't at the top of it, I believe I could get there easily. Getting 2nd in the time trial alone is a huge result. As of this weekend I'm now half way to my category 1. There truly were a lot of ups and downs this weekend, but in general I'm happy with my progression. All in all, things are moving fast. Thanks for reading,

2

As winter comes to a closure, I look back on what might have been the most healthy winter I've had or will ever have. There was only one week during this winter where I really felt under the weather. Unfortunately, it was right before a race that I was feeling really confident about. But hey, there's always next year. It wasn't like I did terrible, I got 7th out 30 some odd riders. Anyways, this winter in comparison to last's has almost been a freak of nature. Last winter, from the first time I fell under the weather, I never really felt like myself until late April. I don't want to jinx myself in my own blog, so I'll save this subject for another time. All in all, reflecting on this past winter, I've been generally happy with myself just being able to stay healthy.

Looking forward into the future, I just recently obtained enough points to upgrade to a Category 2 on the road. I'm very excited about the competition I'll be racing against. The P/1/2 field in the NCNCA district has some of the strongest riders in the nation, in all disciplines. Sure it will probably take some time until I really start placing well, but cycling in general requires patience. If you really want something in this sport you have to have patience. That is something I learned the hard way last year.  We'll see what happens in the next couple months, but in general I'm pretty confident I will do well.

WIN

Madera Stage Race was my first stage of the season. My main purpose of this race was to see where my fitness was in preparation for San Dimas, and also to gain stage race experience in general. The first stage was the ITT. It was basically a 10 mile flat loop.  I unfortunately did not have a TT bike, but I was thankful enough to get clip on bars, and barrow an 808 and helmet from my teammate. For the first half of the TT, I kept my cadence high and went at a comfortable pass. When I got to the 3rd stretch with 5 miles to go, I went beyond limits especially into the final kilo. I ended up 2nd 2.8 seconds the leader.

That afternoon was the criterium. It was a typical 4 corner flat crit. Before the start I went over to the All Sport- Team Swift van to basically beg for their help to protect my GC position/ possibly take a time bonus for the overall.  Lucky for me, being some of the most generous people in the peleton, they offered to do whatever they could to help me. During the crit, Tyler Williams did an awesome lead out for me for the first prime(5 second time bonus.) Due to the fact that I havent made sprinting my strength yet, a rider was able to come around our lead out to take the prime. But it was ok cause he didn't have GC contentions. For the second prime Tyler wasnt able to lead me out, but Joey Nygaard got me into position behind a team that had intentions of getting the second prime.  Once again I was out sprinted to take 2nd.  After that I drifted to the back to recover for the final sprint. The top 3 would get time bonuses(20,10,5.) The last 5 laps were chaos as crits usually are in the end. I found that position was a little harder to get in this crit then others. Going into the final turn I new I wasn't going to be able to get a time bonus, but I didnt see anyone in the top 5 on GC going for the sprint so nothing had changed on GC for the top 7 riders.

The third and final stage was the road race. It was also my last opportunity to take the overall. It was a mainly flat 18 mile loop. The 3's were doing 4 laps, so 68 miles. When I got to the start rumors were being bounced around that the GC leader dropped out of the race. I drifted my eyes around the peleton and confirmed the rumor. That meant I was first overall. So it meant if a break was going to go former teammates Tyler Williams and Joey Nygaard would be helping me bring back a break. The first lap was filled with little attacks that didn't go anywhere. It wasn't until the second lap that a break was able to form and create a reasonable gap of a little over a minute. Joey was able to do a ton of work to help bring the break back before flatting out. It was down to me and Tyler to chase. We both were putting in massive efforts to bring it back and we did just that. The break was caught towards the beginning of the final lap. There were a few minor attacks on the last lap but no one wanted another break to go, so it was going down the sprint. My goal for the day was to at least get 3rd place to take a time bonus to confirm my lead. Going into the sprint I was positioned behind the rider who was 2 seconds behind me. He opened up the sprint way too early and blew himself up in the wind. I had no problem coming around him to take 3rd to get my 5 second time bonus and win the Madera Stage Race Cat 3's. Tyler and Joey were amazing, and couldn't have kept my GC without them. Going into the race I thought I would be alone, but I ended up getting everything I could have  asked for from All Sport- Team Swift. Thanks for reading.

Snelling

This past weekend I raced Snelling Road Race. It was one of if not the most prestigious event held by Velo Promo. I was racing the 3's which registered 100 people, so it was a full field. When I got to the start, I walked outside to register, and lost feeling in my finger tips. It was 34 degrees out,  some of the coldest temperatures I've rode in.

The race started off with a solid 2 mile neutral to "warm up." By no means did I warm up. I was literally shaking uncontrollably. Once we hit the start line, attacks were going left and right. My goal was to stay top 20 in the pack the entire race, I didn't want  to find my nose in the wind at  any time in the race until the end.

For the majority of the race the pack stayed together. On the second to last lap a rider from DBC, and former teammate Joey Nygaard got away for a good amount of time. Their gap got up to about a minute before the peleton really started to up the pace. They ended up being caught right after the start of the final lap.

The last lap made this the most stressful road race I've done. The pack decided to slow to a blistering pace of 15 mph. No one wanted to pull. Finally we got to the feed zone and there  was a solid attack that didnt really get any where but at least we were up to speed. We got on to the last stretch of the race, and there was a major head wind. This caused the pack to spread across the entire road. Getting position was nothing short of impossible without any teammates to help you. I finally found a wheel up the middle, and before you know I was second wheel going into the final turn. But the "swarm" came and yet again I was boxed in from the left and right.  In the last 300 meters a rider sprinted into another riders wheel which caused a three man pile up. Lucky for me I was able to get around to the right. Unfortunately I ended up sprinting in the wind with no protection at all. I ended up 5th. If you ask me how I managed to get a top 5, I couldn't tell you. The last part of the last lap was absolutely chaotic. All in all, I'm just happy I managed to stay upright. Thanks for reading.

Madera

This weekend is the Madera Stage Race in central California. I was supposed to do it last year, but I got sick and my coach told me to take a rest week so I don't dig myself into a hole. It didn't matter cause three weeks later I got sick again. Anyways, my main goal for this weekend was to maintain at least top five on GC. Doing this without a TT bike and disc it isn't going to be as easy as it sounds. The first and second stage is on Saturday, starting off with the TT in the morning and the crit in the afternoon. Then Sunday is the road race, stage three. It will also give me some idea of where my form is at too so I can find out how much I need to prepare for San Dimas, which is is two weeks later. I'm kind of upset I'm not doing this in the p12's yet because of the hill tt that they do on Friday. Which kind of favors my ability for GC, but there's always next year.

Why I do what I do

Being this is my first post, I would like to share the reasoning behind the creation of "My adventure to the top." It was created to share my day to day life as a cyclist with dreams and expectations of taking it to the top level of my sport.

So I will start off by telling the story of how cycling found me.  Even though I have only been cycling for a little over a year, it has been something that interested me for years. I remember the first time my dad took me to the Tour of California to the finish of stage 2 in downtown Santa Rosa. Listening to Dave Towle motivate the crowd as we all waited in anticipation for the peleton to fly into the streets of Downtown Santa Rosa, is and always will be one of the most memorable experience of my life. It was the first time I witnessed a professional bike race. Watching the pack of riders storm through the finishing straight I thought to myself "How can these guys go so fast?" From my prospective, as a thirteen year old, they looked like gods. Tan, skinny, and ridiculously fast gods. And that is exactly what I wanted to be.

From that day forward, my biggest concern was getting a road bike. Every Christmas and birthday I would ask for a road bike. Unfortunately, my family got hit by the recession really hard. So getting a bike wasn't as easy as it sounded. Lucky for me, my dad was a cyclist. At the time he wasn't riding as frequently, so he let me ride his road bike for the time being. Even though it was 2 sizes to big for me, it didn't matter. It was perfect in my eyes. Every weekend I went out and road into the back roads of Sonoma county. Eventually, I met up with this group called the Petaluma Wheelmen. They taught me so much on  just the basics of cycling. So when I told them that I wanted to start racing, it seemed like they knew exactly what to do with me. They handed me over to this team based out Santa Rosa for juniors called Team Swift. This is where the fun really began.

My first race was the local Tuesday Night Twilights at the Santa Rosa fairgrounds. I raced in the juniors race with about ten other juniors, the majority of them on Team Swift. It was a huge eye opener for me. I was pushed to me limits the entire race. I ended up getting 5th, but I felt accomplished. It was my first race and I finished it.

Ever since that race, cycling became my life, my lifestyle, who I am, and what I do. And there is nothing that has made me think otherwise.