St. Augustine VeloFest (5/10-11/14)

Goofing around with my brother, Ryan

This weekend the whole family traveled to St. Augustine, Florida for VeloFest. Even my brother, Ryan, came along. My dad and I were both racing the Cat 3/4 crit and the Cat 4/5 road race, and we made a little side bet about which of us would win. Regardless of where we finished in the overall results, we were racing for family bragging rights and I wanted to beat him.

 

I got a great start off the line for the Old City Criterium on Saturday, and was running in the top 3 early in the race. Nearly from the start, some of the Cat 3's were putting in a bunch of little attacks, which I tried to counter to stay up front. Ultimately, though, that was my downfall. It wasn't until I cramped up badly from head to toe that I realized my mistake and had to pull out of the race. That round went to my dad, who finished 4th in the Cat 4 field and 18th overall.

Neutral start of the road race

On Sunday, we lined up again to compete in the Syco Farms Road Race. I was determined to redeem myself for the mistakes I made the day before. The course was 36 miles, full of long, flat roads with strong winds. After doing a good warm-up, I went over to staging to wait for my start. Once it was 5 minutes until start, the officials called us up to the line, where I was able to get a front row spot. The first 3 miles of the course were really narrow, so it was a neutral start. Throughout the race, I was finding it hard to make moves and get myself in the front of the group, so I was forced to ride near mid-pack, where everyone was riding like they had never ridden a bike before. Once I saw that we had ridden 30 miles, I knew I needed to move up in the pack for the sprint finish. However, because the group was so closely compacted with over 70 cat 4 and 5 riders, I was only able to move up a few positions. 

Finish first, celebrate later

Once we came around the last corner, it was a 400 meter sprint to the finish line. I went really wide going around the turn, and I found myself with almost nobody in front of me. I hammered up the road, and when I caught up to the top 3, I saw that the guy in the lead was already celebrating 20 meters from the finish line.

Eeking out the win

So I got up out of the saddle and made one final attempt to overtake him. In the end, I finished in 1st place, beating the guy by a millisecond for my first category win. It was a great race and I feel like I'm gaining a lot of experience for when I compete in road nationals again this year. Plus, I also beat my dad, which left us tied in the battle for bragging rights. 

Coming up in a couple of weeks is the Florida State Criterium Championships, so stay tuned!