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| Post Omloop Sightseeing |
First race of the year as well as my first race with the team. Needless to say I had a successful day, and I will be super happy to see where the rest of the season will be take me.
Feb 2, 2012
Tour of New Braunfels 2012 Omloop
The race started off rather fast. Nothing unexpected, for many people this was the start of the race season. I was no exception. I quickly found a few of my teammates and decided to stay close to them. I needed to stay near the front and make sure no large splits happened, especially if no one from SS was represented. As the first few laps unfolded, I was taking the cobwebs off my mind and legs as I remembered how to ride in a group again. This included basic group riding etiquette from cycling 101 (ride heads up, don't overlap wheels, draft, ect). As the race progressed so did my confidence. I was riding up at the front like I needed to and was able to follow moves.
As the raced progressed to the 20 minute mark a large split formed off the front of the pack. Shane was able to get into this powerful move with about 10 (?) others. Several racers that missed the break tried to get across to it. I even followed a few attacks to get across my self, but the leaders were too far up the road. Any bridge attempts were quickly brought back into the fold. Towards the end of the race I had used a lot of my energy going after chase groups and did not have the ability to contest the group sprint. I rolled in safely at the back of the pack. Shane was able to get a 4th place.
First race of the year as well as my first race with the team. Needless to say I had a successful day, and I will be super happy to see where the rest of the season will be take me.
First race of the year as well as my first race with the team. Needless to say I had a successful day, and I will be super happy to see where the rest of the season will be take me.
On the way to the start off the seaon
This past weekend was the start of my cycling season. I was super happy to be back on the road after several months of off season training. I quickly found out that it felt like I had taken no time off at all. I was picked up my Louis Tannos and we were off on our way to the races. It was really nice to be back on the road, and just talk about cycling again. Something I can not do at my school.
When we got into town it was really cool to meet the Garmin u23 team as well as a few of their elite racers. It is not everyday I get to meet current and ex pros that have raced in the tour. After eating a nice meal in Wimberly I went back to the Garmin Jr Training home in Wimberly. It was very nice out in that part of town. Lots of quiet open roads to ride on as well a worry free atmosphere.
My first race as a Cat 1 was less than 24 hours away. I was not nervous, just really excited to back in the scene of things
When we got into town it was really cool to meet the Garmin u23 team as well as a few of their elite racers. It is not everyday I get to meet current and ex pros that have raced in the tour. After eating a nice meal in Wimberly I went back to the Garmin Jr Training home in Wimberly. It was very nice out in that part of town. Lots of quiet open roads to ride on as well a worry free atmosphere.
My first race as a Cat 1 was less than 24 hours away. I was not nervous, just really excited to back in the scene of things
Jan 22, 2012
The Start of 2012
Lots of things have been happening since my last post, So i just want to fill my followers in on what has been going on.
In terms of my cycling things have been going great. I have been getting in lots of good training miles in preparation for the race season. Since October I have been a cat 1 racer. A goal that has taken 5 short yet awesome years to achieve. I will also be racing for team Super Squadra 2012 and forward. One of the most successful Texas teams around. Super excited to be around such great mentors who will be able to help me mature farther in the sport of competitive cycling. My first race will be the Tour of New Braunfels (a week from this post).
In terms of my education and schooling, things have been going great as well! I have made it to the second semester of my Sr year in high school. All my grades have been phenomenal, as well as all my friends I have surrounded my self with over the years. All that's left at Dawson will just be Prom, Project Graduation, and AP Tests... I also have been getting my post high school education settled. I have been accepted and plan on going to the Cullin School of Engineering at the University of Houston under an academic scholarship.
SO all in all things have been great. I plan to come back to my blogger with a bit more than just bike racing. Maybe right about my opinions and what else comes to my mind.
In terms of my cycling things have been going great. I have been getting in lots of good training miles in preparation for the race season. Since October I have been a cat 1 racer. A goal that has taken 5 short yet awesome years to achieve. I will also be racing for team Super Squadra 2012 and forward. One of the most successful Texas teams around. Super excited to be around such great mentors who will be able to help me mature farther in the sport of competitive cycling. My first race will be the Tour of New Braunfels (a week from this post).
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| French Alps |
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| Red Black and white with Super Squadra |
Sep 29, 2011
End of 2011
I know I have been bad about my blog lately and I have left quite a few people in the dark on what I have been doing these last few months. So instead of making it up with a mass of mediocre reports since Nationals, I am going to choose to start with a clean slate on how my state championships went last weekend, as well has my plans going into 2012.
For my state Championships I am going to try to get full race reports sent to the racing post magazine with the hope of at least one of them getting published. In the mean time I would like to let everyone know that I think I ended my last year as a Jr cyclist with a bang. Everything the last couple weeks leading up last weekend had been going fanstatic. My racing, training, school, everything. Then everything seemed to climax the monday after States.
It started with winning the STATE wheels series overall in the Pro12 category, I finished in front a lot of big names and despite not finishing the final race of the series and getting dropped.
My next positive result was I ended up getting a 9th in a very hard chapel hill road race (every year its the hardest race to finish) I finished right behind some very strong Cat 1 racers as well as in front of a lot of strong Cat 1s and 2s.
States was the following race were I raced the Cat 2 men. Long story short (i'm going to get a full race report up either in the racing post or online soon) I raced very smart and used every one man team tactic I knew to come to the line with 5 people and just get beat in the sprint by a very strong Bryan Reid. Nothing wrong with silver
The next day I raced the Jr Open, were I was animating the race at any point I saw to make the race safer. (hills, cross winds, redlights, trains). The final 5 k it it was pretty much Me, Kyle Parrot, and John Ryan in a four man group that got away from the 15-16 year olds. coming down to the the sprint John Ryan led it out and I was on his wheel. Kyle came around me as I came around John with 150 meters to go. Getting my self my second silver medal in two days. Nothing wrong with that. Me and Kyle were definably feeling the 99 miles of the day before in our legs.
Then something I have been waiting to see for several years happened Monday. I got my racing upgrade request to cat 1 approved. One of the biggest mile stones for anyone in the sport. Not a bad way to end the year if you ask me. ;)
Again I could not have been able to do this without the support of my family, my friends, my team, my coach, and a drive to better my self every day.
For my state Championships I am going to try to get full race reports sent to the racing post magazine with the hope of at least one of them getting published. In the mean time I would like to let everyone know that I think I ended my last year as a Jr cyclist with a bang. Everything the last couple weeks leading up last weekend had been going fanstatic. My racing, training, school, everything. Then everything seemed to climax the monday after States.
It started with winning the STATE wheels series overall in the Pro12 category, I finished in front a lot of big names and despite not finishing the final race of the series and getting dropped.
My next positive result was I ended up getting a 9th in a very hard chapel hill road race (every year its the hardest race to finish) I finished right behind some very strong Cat 1 racers as well as in front of a lot of strong Cat 1s and 2s.
States was the following race were I raced the Cat 2 men. Long story short (i'm going to get a full race report up either in the racing post or online soon) I raced very smart and used every one man team tactic I knew to come to the line with 5 people and just get beat in the sprint by a very strong Bryan Reid. Nothing wrong with silver
The next day I raced the Jr Open, were I was animating the race at any point I saw to make the race safer. (hills, cross winds, redlights, trains). The final 5 k it it was pretty much Me, Kyle Parrot, and John Ryan in a four man group that got away from the 15-16 year olds. coming down to the the sprint John Ryan led it out and I was on his wheel. Kyle came around me as I came around John with 150 meters to go. Getting my self my second silver medal in two days. Nothing wrong with that. Me and Kyle were definably feeling the 99 miles of the day before in our legs.
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| Jr Open State Road Race |
Again I could not have been able to do this without the support of my family, my friends, my team, my coach, and a drive to better my self every day.
Jun 20, 2011
University Oaks criterium 123
The start of the race was fast filled with racers trying to get off the front as well as move into position at the front. After a few laps of racers trying to get up towards the front, the pack was in single file. I could also see that gaps were opening as well. I waited until the cross wind section and I put it a small attack to help split the field some more. To my suprise I got away from everybody else and was solo off the front. I held a small gap for a few laps before I was brought back into the fold. Luckily it was only a group of around 12 riders that brought me back. The chase to bring me back finally split the field. I surveyed the riders around me and noticed that all the large teams were represented. After seeing this I started to work with the riders knowing that the majority of the main group will be blocking. I also used the fact I was a team of one to my advantage and did a bit less work than the others. As the laps went on I continued to work and was able to jump out at get 4 primes. (I thought they said 50 dollar prime, not sock prime! however I did get a nice wheel bag from chrome)
Heading into the final 5 laps the pack was in view in front and were going to lap them soon. I continued to follow the wheels of the other attacks waiting to launch an attack of my own. with 2 laps to go I put in a hard attack and bridged the 5 second gap to the back of the peloton, once i caught on i moved quickly to the front to keep the pace high. As I got to the front of the pack we started the final lap. The break I attacked from caught the back of the pack at the start of the final lap and started to move up towards me. Luckily one of my JR friends, Nick Green, who as been sitting in the whole race saw me and moved to the front to try to string out the pack. This helped as I came around the final corner sitting second wheel and jumped around not only to win the race but also the pack sprint.
Jun 3, 2011
Beltarra 2011
After a confusing and compact few days of racing I was finally going to be racing the Beltarra Circuit race. I have never raced this course before and from what I here it is one of the hardest races to complete.
It was hot and humid. One of the first hot and humid days we have had all year, and marking the beginning of the summer racing season.
At the start of the race we had around 45-50 riders all lined up at the barricades. Soon after we started a small group went up the road. I sat patiently and waited to see if anyone was going to jump across, to the lead group of 3 that got away. After I saw that no one was jumping across I moved comfortably towards the front of the race and waited for power hills and temperature to start hurting the competition. After a few hard accelerations and speedy laps I could see that the field was starting to splinter. I did everything I could to stay near the front, this helped me tremendously since I was able to keep from losing the front of group, which contained the strongest guys in the race. Before I knew it I was in a select group of 7 including some of the fastest racers in the state, as well as current and ex pros. I did everything I could to stay with this group of 7 knowing that they were the fastest left in the race and no one from behind was going to bridge across to us. After a couple hard laps of pulling Stefan Rothe put in a hard attack and gapped me on the bottom of the course. I did everything I could to get back on in the fast down hill section, and right before I could get back on, Lawson Craddock attacked the flats. That ended my chances of finishing with the leaders and I was sent back by myself. After a few laps of solo riding I was caught by a small chase group including fellow Houston racer Wally Groda. I did everything I could to stay with them but I was too spent after trying to stay with the leaders and was quickly dropped off the back of that group. After two laps of some more solo riding I was caught by another small group of two. However I was able to recover enough to be able to work with this group. For the remainder of the race I worked with my chase group. Coming into the sprint I was sitting third wheel and was able to win the sprint of my break getting mysekf a respectable 14th place.
After finishing I was surprised to find out that the officials pulled all the other racers behind our group and that only 17 of the 45-50 starters finished the full race.
It was hot and humid. One of the first hot and humid days we have had all year, and marking the beginning of the summer racing season.
At the start of the race we had around 45-50 riders all lined up at the barricades. Soon after we started a small group went up the road. I sat patiently and waited to see if anyone was going to jump across, to the lead group of 3 that got away. After I saw that no one was jumping across I moved comfortably towards the front of the race and waited for power hills and temperature to start hurting the competition. After a few hard accelerations and speedy laps I could see that the field was starting to splinter. I did everything I could to stay near the front, this helped me tremendously since I was able to keep from losing the front of group, which contained the strongest guys in the race. Before I knew it I was in a select group of 7 including some of the fastest racers in the state, as well as current and ex pros. I did everything I could to stay with this group of 7 knowing that they were the fastest left in the race and no one from behind was going to bridge across to us. After a couple hard laps of pulling Stefan Rothe put in a hard attack and gapped me on the bottom of the course. I did everything I could to get back on in the fast down hill section, and right before I could get back on, Lawson Craddock attacked the flats. That ended my chances of finishing with the leaders and I was sent back by myself. After a few laps of solo riding I was caught by a small chase group including fellow Houston racer Wally Groda. I did everything I could to stay with them but I was too spent after trying to stay with the leaders and was quickly dropped off the back of that group. After two laps of some more solo riding I was caught by another small group of two. However I was able to recover enough to be able to work with this group. For the remainder of the race I worked with my chase group. Coming into the sprint I was sitting third wheel and was able to win the sprint of my break getting mysekf a respectable 14th place.
After finishing I was surprised to find out that the officials pulled all the other racers behind our group and that only 17 of the 45-50 starters finished the full race.
Apr 1, 2011
Lago Vista day 2011 day 1 win
The racing post was able to put in my write up for this race in the April edition of the magazine. Everybody should check it out on the online format.
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