#elite3s

End game! Haha STRAVA

Welp! Woke up yesterday morning feeling good. Had a legit dinner the night before kinda slept alright and the drive to Folsom was smooth. It was already 70 something degrees at 8am but the beer sponsor for the race was setting up so all signs were in favor for your boy! There were heavy hitters in the field. Data driven athlete, Sierra, Chico Corsa, MetroMint, and Davis! All were riding strong. Aaron Schmitz (Kinetic Cycles) was there but wasn't looking to do any hard moves. He had received his point the day before to upgrade to cat2. But still wasn't backing down from having a good time in the race. So! His wheel and Josef Carlsons. Two super strong dudes that i know can lay down the suffering. There were about five or six attacks just in the first three laps. I'm sorry again Jafa (BRITEsport) for closing down your break. That's pretty much what I did the first half of the race. Data kept sending guys out and then having other riders go up front to block. But I wasn't having it and every time they did that I would attack. Yes bring the field with me but I would shut down every attempt. Aaron and another dude actually had a somewhat successful break for two laps but I worked hard with a couple guys on the front to catch them. Once caught I made another attempt at breaking from the field. Four riders came with and only one stayed after turnings couple corners! Waiting and waiting to see the field swarm me like they had the whole race. But nothing! So I asked the guy ( Curtis Smith of Bicycle Plus/Sierra Nevada). "What do you think? Wanna try it?" He just nodded and we drilled for the next lap. Off the front we had from what the announcer and people through out the course said we had 15 maybe 20 seconds on the field. But on the long straight aways I saw and knew the field could've caught us! So next lap! Curtis and I will had a gap. So we pace lined, took turns but something didn't feel right. It was bell lap and every time Curtis came up to pull there wasn't a lot there. I gave him 3-5 seconds to pull but I would come back up and drill for 20-30. I was not letting this chance of another successful break get away! And also knowing at any second a Data dude could try to attack and bring the field with him to snuff out our gap.

So we came to the final turns I kept dropping Curtis on the last straight away but he was holding on. The last turn. Sprint to the finish! THE END!! Curtis was about one to two bike lengths behind me just far enough away to have lost my draft. I got out of my saddle looked back once. Curtis was in sprint mode as well. I pedaled, pushed as hard as I could! Looked back for a last time saw Curtis had sat up.. OOOHHH buddy!!! I put my head down with everything I had left I gunned for the finish line all by myself. My hands became slightly numb, my vision blurry. I don't think I had ever dug so deep and pushed so hard to a finish line. I came in first. I passed the line and let out another ROAR of relief! Haha this was my best performance of being a cyclist. I read the field, made my presence known, made my competition question themselves. I was a threat. My only goal all season and I completed it.

I received the last five points I needed to upgrade to category two. But i still have three more races before my seasons over and i submit my upgrade request. I humbly mean it when I write "thanks for all the support" everyone I look up to on the internets and in my personal life was there with me pushing me around every corner and yelling at me for that sprint to the finish. I cannot thank everyone enough for all the support. I finally did it.