Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Dade City Weekend

This past weekend I raced the San Antonio Road Race and Dade City Crit. The road race is one of the hillier ones in Florida and one I like a lot. It is 85 miles long on a 17 mile circuit that we do 5 times. It is rolling throughout and not much flat. My plan for the race was to get in a move I thought looked good and try to win. During the first three laps there were many attacks, but nothing seemed to get much time on the field. At the beginning of the fourth lap I thought people looked pretty tired, so I put in a few attacks. I eventually got away with Phil Gaimon (Fiordifruta) and an Herbalife rider. We worked pretty well together, but a group of seven was coming on strong with one lap to go. With about 10k to go they caught our group. I was pretty finished by the time this group caught mine. Luckily, this group contained three of my teammates. There were attacks on some of the hills going up to the finished and I was dropped. I rolled in alone for 10th place. My teammate John Durango won and Rafael Moran teammate was 3rd, and Ivan Franco was 6th. It was a pretty good day for the team I would say.
Sunday was the Dade City crit. This course is shaped like the letter L and is less than one k long. It is very technical and also goes over some bricks on one straightaway. My team decided to make it fast from the gun. We all rode the front at the beginning and put Ivan Franco and John Durango up the road on their own. There were attacks from the field but nothing was going to catch Ivan and John if we could help it. We followed many moves and took primes as well. Eventually, Ivan and John lapped the field. Then we sat on the front of the group and rode hard in order to discourage and neutralise any attacks. During the last five or six laps we rode very fast on the front. Ivan Franco got the win and John was second. This was a pretty good weekend to start the year off with.
On Thursday I leave for the Dominican Republic to compete in the Vuelta Independencia Nacional, a 9 day, 10 stage UCI 2.2 race.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Bring It On Practice Race Series #1

This past Saturday my Toshiba- AEG teammate Bobby Sweeting and I took part in the Bring It On Practice Series #1 Race put on by Team Cycle Logic in Alachua. The race comprised of 25 laps on a 1.1 mile D shaped course. The last turn was about 150 meters before the finish. Right from the gun Bobby attacked with Phil Gaimon (Fiordifrutta) and a UF rider. They stayed away for a few laps while I sat in following all chase groups. Eventually this move got dissolved and I put in an attack because I figured the group to be tired from the chase. I was away with Phil Gaimon (Fiordifrutta) and Chuck Jerovic (JRC) and this ended up being the move for the race. Behind us Bobby got away from the main bunch with David Guttenplan (Time Pro Cycling Team) and a UF rider but worked just enough for them to stay clear the whole race. In the break Phil and I worked consistenly the entire time. Chuck said that he would work when he could and sit back for third. Phil jumped me with 2.5 laps to go. I followed him and refused to work for the remainder of the race. Then I jumped about 50 meters before the last turn and held on for the win. Guttenplan beat Bobby for 4th place. I am happy very happy to get my first win of the year over with early. I want to thank my Toshiba- AEG teammate very much for being aggressive and helping me get this win.