2014 Mellow Johnny's Classic (aka Florida Invades Texas)

The first weekend of March took my family and I out to Dripping Springs, Texas for the Mellow Johnny's Classic. This was the third year in a row that we went out for this event.

Josh working on my bike

We arrived at the Flat Creek Ranch on Thursday and pre-rode a couple of laps of the course. Three members of my Whole Athlete/Specialized team, plus our awesome head mechanic, Josh Snead, arrived on Friday. We got to set up under the Specialized factory team tent, which was really cool, because we were sharing with Todd Wells. Friday afternoon I rode with my teammates, Sean Bennett and Casey Williams. That evening, we all went out to dinner together at a local pizza/pasta restaurant.

 

On Saturday, I did the first of my two races, the Juniors 13-14. I was first off the line, taking the hole shot. After the parade lap, I started getting into lap traffic from the classes that started ahead of us. I wove my way through traffic and flew through the course. The course was the perfect mix of rocky, technical sections and fast flats, making it a really fun race for me. After less than 40 minutes, I sprinted to the finish, (because sprinting is the only cool way to finish a race-haha), and took the win.

 

Several friends from Florida also came up to race at Mellow Johnny's, and three of them (Nico Tabares, Harrison Knight, and Ethan Negas) also finished in the top 10 in the Juniors 13-14 class. In addition, Clayton Knight raced in the 10 and under group, finishing 2nd, after taking an early lead, which he held until his chain dropped and Will Drummond was able to pass him for the win. Ethan Negas raced in the Juniors 11-12 class, and took the win like a boss. Dustin Zimmerman lined up for the Cat 3 15-18 class, got the hole shot and never looked back, crushing the rest of the field. All in all, the Florida juniors were a dominant presence in Texas and I was excited to see my friends do so well.

 

Sunday I lined up to race the Cat 2 Juniors. The weather that morning was crazy! When we started our race, the temperature was 70 degrees. Twenty minutes into the race, it dropped to 40 and started to rain. Fortunately, I was so focused on racing that it really didn't bother me. 

My friend, Adam Cohen, had come out from Miami to do the race too. The best part of doing this one was riding with him on my wheel during the first lap. During the parade loop, Adam and I created a significant gap between ourselves and the rest of the field. It was just like racing back home, pushing each other to ride to our limits.  About midway through the first lap though, he made a mistake and I got away from him also. I kept going as hard as I could and wove my way through the lap traffic that consisted of all the classes that started behind us. Again, I sprinted to the finish for the win. Adam finished about a minute and a half behind me for second place. 

Adam and Me

After 4 months of base training, back to back wins at Mellow Johnny's was a great way to start my race season and I CAN'T WAIT to race at Bonelli Park in California in a couple of weeks!!