Here’s a quick recap of the races down here the past few weekends. I will start with Valley of the Sun in Phoenix, AZ. It was a 3 day stage race with a TT, RR, and Crit based on time. Now, it is no seceret that I hate TT's, but I actually was ready to really try and do well at this one, full on areo set up. 5k into the 22k TT I managed to find the biggest nail on the rode that went clean through my wheel. Two thoughts went through my head: 1st- I am so glad that I have a great excuse as to why I did not do well. 2nd- Oh crap I have to ride the next 17k on a flat wheel so I can start the next day, I hope somebody will be there to score me in a hour or so. Lucky for me they had a sweeper to pick people up in my situation and they gave me 5 minutes slower than the slowest time of the day, so I could start the next day. RR went well, the results show me as getting 2nd (and I still would have done well) but with 1k to go they neutralized our finish because of a crash at the finish line in the 3s race. So it did not really count. The Crit went well also, long story shot, a Rock Racing guy and Waste Management guy got off the front with 1 lap to go and I got 2nd in the field sprint for 4th.
This last weekend I went the suburbs of Austin, TX to the Walburg and Pace Bend RRs (two big TX races that everyone has been talking about). Saturday was Walburg- it was a long hard day in the saddle. We had cold, clouds, rain, sun, warm, and wind (a lot of wind). It was so windy that for about 5 miles in the cross wind I was trying to control my deep carbon Bontrager wheels at an angle as if I where going through a corner (only I was going straight). I could feel my bike sliding sideways on the wet road. I missed the 3 man break. In the last 10 miles a 4th guy got away and I won the sprint for 5th. Sunday was Pace Bend, it was a very cool race. A 6.2 mile fully enclosed wide road loop with rolling climbs and a lot of dudes (130+ starters) I quickly figured out that this race was going to come to a field sprint, it was too easy to sit in and to many guys with fresh legs. Now with that being said it made it very hard to position for the finish. There was a corner 400 meters to the finish and it was all up hill (not exactly my cup of tea) but I was ready for the fight. I got boxed in coming out of the corner and had to soft pedal to get an open lane with 200 meters to go. I got boxed in again and soft pedaled to get the line. By the time I hit the finish I had caught all but 1 guy, all I needed was 10 more meters, but that is bike racing. I will take 2nd place anytime. That is all the races I have to report for now! I will be at it again this weekend at Lago Vista. Wish me luck!
~Josh
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