It was quite an early morning waking up for a juniors race. I haven’t raced juniors, with the exception of the Road Race Championships, since forever ago! I rode up in the car with Maxx and his Dad. After packing everything and getting geared up to go, we left the house at 6.30am. I slept the entire way up from being tired after working throughout the week, and Mr. Robb’s awesome selection of classical music was perfect to set the atmosphere.
When we arrived at the course, Max and I got registered and tried to look around for Jake. As it turned out, he was sick and did not show up for the day. After getting our numbers for our races (we both doubled up), we headed back to the car to pin up numbers. We had plenty of time to kill, so we took our time getting ready, as it should be with every race. I did a 45 min. warm-up with 5×2 minute jumps. After this, Maxx and I headed to the line after an easy lap.
The race started out fast with a Cat 3, Jake Byrd, trying to start an early break by sitting off the front and attacking the hills. He led us the entire first lap and kept the pace elevated. After this effort, he dropped back and a Cat 3 from Franklin Street Cycles, Naveen Penmetsa, decided to solo off the front. Maxx was quickly on this attack and over the course of a half of a lap, he brought Naveen back.
It was at this point that the race was decided. Naveen’s teammate, Daniel Claymore-Greene and a Cat 2, broke away in a solo break. Maxx was toasted from reeling in Naveen, so it was left of to me to bridge to the lone rider. With me, I brought Jake Byrd and new Black Sheep Cartel rider and Cat 4 Brent Nixon. I pulled the entire way up to Daniel and when we made contact, we started doing thirty-second rotations.
The break was pretty hard and we hauled booty to get out of sight of the field. After this, everything worked like clockwork. Everyone took turns pulling and we shared the work. Maxx was in the back blocking, so I had no worries about getting caught.
With one lap to go, we all played cat n’ mouse to see who was going to lead out the sprint. As it turned out, Jake Byrd led it out and I hopped on his wheel. Daniel hopped on me and Brent followed Daniel. Daniel sprinted around us, leaving the three of us to fight for second. It came down to a bike throw, but I took it! I got a shiny silver medal and was very happy about the day! I totally thanked Maxx, too. I couldn’t have done it without him.
