The next weekend was the Savanh cross race, this weekend my parent came to watch me. This course was at old dirt car race track this course is the only cross race with a fly over in the south, it also included woops, mud, sand,stairs,and one set of barriers. It started out a good day with my team mate Will Willis wining the junior race. Then the cat 3 race, the race i would like to forget, I had good start but the going into the stair another race took me out at the stairs this is where the bad luck started. 5 crash later and broken bike in fished in 24th place. after this race it took some motivation to keep racing.
The next race was the fallowing weekend in Conyers Ga, this week end we had the full team including Jonathon, Will, Diane, and Michelle. We all when up in Diane's van that was a interesting experience. the course was at the where the 96 Olympic mountain bike race took place, the course had 2 set of barriers and one run up, it also had 2 long climbs with tricky decent. The best part of the course was the Voo Do spiral. The first race of the day was Jonathon in the masters race and he finished in the top 20. Then it was Michelle's Junior race she finished in the top 5. My race was the cat 3 race i had Will in my race with me and on the course at the same time was the woman's pro,1,2,3 race which included Diane. It was a fast start with the field of 40 riders going in to the Voo Do spiral. The race separated out in to it it usual groups will was in the top 6 till 4 to go when the crashed on the decent and injured his ankle. My race was going good till the 2nd lap i was siting in the second group in the top10 but i crashed in a corner and lost 10 place I chased the rest of the race making up time where i could, which was in the barriers and climbs. i finished in 16th place. Them we had a long drive back to Orlando, which included a stop at one of the team favorite registrants Five Guys.
We had a couple of weeks off till the next cross race which is in Tallahassee fl. The first Florida cross race.
The Tallahassee weekend was a double race weekend. this was the first weekend I race pro,1,2 and the first weekend that we had the hole team, with the addition of Jos, Cassey, and Brent. The race was put on by Jim Smart and he a has a obsession of making wacky and hard courses. Both day we race at a high school with diffident course each day. the course on Saturday was very hard but fun, it in included 2 run ups, one set of barriers, a parking lot crit, a couple of short step climbs and track start and finish. The team had a good day of racing with wins in the junior 10-14 and woman's cat 4, and podium finishes in junior 15-18. My race was the last on of the day it was 60 minutes there were only 8 pro,1,2s in the race. The start was fast with a lap around the track then off in to the grass and over the barriers, thought the sand pit and then up the first hill at this point i was in 5th. then in to the run up to the parking lot in the parking lot i was passed and slayed in the 6th the rest of the race, after the parking lot we road though the school to the next step climb then back down to the field were it was the next run up, and back down and thought the pits where everybody was and Jonathon yell and me 55min to go and he keep saying this every lap till the finish. The race was won by Gary Yates and in finish in 6th. After this race i was think what did i just do racing my first pro race and thinking this was going to be a long season. The next day Jim had switched the course around and had it run backwards and added a voo do spiral. the team had smiler results as Saturday. Brent took a nice spill in the first lap of his race and landed head first. My race was had and same people as yesterday but with a few more so we had 12 people in the race, the race was as fast or even faster then the day before. I try staying with people but my technical skill were not up to par then I fell back to 8th after lap 3 and stayed there till the end of the race a finished out in 8th and Gary Yates won the race.
The next race was in Orlando on the course that Diane and I designed and put a couple of day of work in to setting it up. This is the course that I train on so this is like home field advantage for me and the rest if my team. The course had a fast pavement start that when in to a rough S turn section then out in to a field with a barrier and Voo do spiral set up from there it when out thought a field around a tree up a sight incline, then down a berm through a field in to a ditch them over a log the back out in to a file around a light post up a berm them back down, over to another berm up and over then a U turn up a set of stairs then around a lake over a fence and through a ditch to the mud pit to the side walk then tough another mud pit fallowed by a sharp tun a rod a pond back out on to the pavement. it was the usual team teammates at the race. The team won 3 race that day both junior races and woman's. this week both the pro,1,2, was mixed with the cat 3 race. So we had 25 starters with both classes. It was a fast start we stayed to together for the first lap them as the race when on it all separated out into the usual groups. This was longest race of the year being 12 laps or and hour and ten minutes. So in the last lap i try to drop the group i was in one guy was able to come around me so I finished in 8th. The next day we did it all over again in a hilly course in Clermont. the course was ether going up or down it only had one dismount a sandy run up. The team had a same results as the day before. The race was mixed again today we had 14 starters. I had a fast pavement start be it was a hill climb start it broke up at the top of the hill and every was fight for every inch of ground it was that hard of a course. the race like yesterday was 12 lap and it came out to be one hour and eleven minutes on a very hard course. i finished in 6th place. this race was not you versus a competitor it was you versus the course.
Usa cyclo cross national championship in Kansas City Mo. this was the race i had been thinking about all year.It was Jonathon and I driving across country to get there it was an 18 hour drive. We stayed with Richard Sachs and his team was. The course was on sight incline so it was a long climb to the top with a set of stair at the top then drop back down go over a pair of barriers and go up a bit then another set of stairs the back down around two switch back beck out on the start finish straight.
My first race was the U29 race I was in the front row on the line there were 100 starters in the race. It was a fast start in stayed in the top 30 for the first two laps then I was making up place as the race was going with 3 laps to go i was bridging a gap up to another gap and crashed in a silk muddy corner. i jammed a good amount of mud in my shifter and pick up my bike and started running for the pit then all the people i had passed came flying by me. I fell back to about 50th when i got my spare bike. With my new bike I i was try to make up as much ground as possible but got lapped and finished in 44th not bad for my first race in silk mud and below freezing temperatures. Jonathon raced the masters 30-39 and finished in 69th. The next day I had an easy ride with my coach Adam Myerson and some of Richard team members. We road over to the course and did two lap Adam tough me a bunch of new strategies for picking lines. We rode back and had a rest full night. Now my big race the U23 race in this race i was on the starting line of some the whos whos of cyclo cross, like Will Dugan, two of the Keoghs, Danny Summerhill, Bjorn Selander, Adam McGrath, and the winner Nicholas Weighall. I was in the second row at the start it was crazy fast i was in my biggest gear spun out. i was in the about 40th place by the end of the first lap i lost couple of place over the next couple laps on the climbs by the 3 to go i was lapped by the leaders and pulled, but the misscored me as dnf even thought I made more then half the race. After the race Jonathon said lets drive back to Florida to make the race on Sunday. So we drove 18 straight and I was back home a 6:30 on Sunday. 2 hours later i was in the car going to Dade city.
Dade city this race I raced on 3 hour of sleep. This race my dad did his first cross race and finished in 5th in the cat4 race. the team had the same results as the previocus weekends but with one more first place Brent won his race. The course was at the little Everglades ranch it was an open course with a couple of climbs some pavement and one barrier. it was going to be a fast course. my race had 8 starters in it we stayed together till lap two when someone took a flyer and stayed away for the rest of the race. I was dropped on the 3rd lap with one other guy we work together and I out sprinted him in the end to finish 6th. Will fished in 5th.
After a 3 week brake it was time to continue the rest of the series the next race was in Miami.
The race in Miami was at a mountain bike park, the course included a duel slalom section, some paved bike trail, mud, sand, and grass. The barriers where logs. the team had the same results as the passed weeks and will finished second in the pro,1,2 race. My race had a fast start going into the dual slalom section i was in the top 3 thought this section and stayed in the top 4 rest of the race and finished in 4th.
The next race was in Lakeland it was an epic race in a sand pit. This course was at carter road park it included some single track, dirt road, and two sandy hills. The team had the same result as the past weekends. my race was the last one of the day, we had 11 starters it was a fast start with Darren Dowling and Will driving it. It all stayed together till the single track when Darren got a gap with Jason, I continued to chase staying in 7th and moving up a place each lap till the last lap when in the sand hill i ran down full steam and passed 4th place and finished in 4th.
The last weekend was in Stuart. The first race was in a park in west palm beach, the course was open and fast it only had one set of barriers.The team had the same result as the past weekends. My race had about 20 starters. The course was fast with a S turn and barriers then up the first hill up to the fast pavement then on to a grass field back down the back side of the hill to a dirt road at the end of the road it was another climb with a u turn at the top then a fast down hill to the S turn. My race was fast from the gun with drew and will get off the front and i was in the chase group it was being driven by Darren but his pedal broke a half a lap into the race. Will was about 20 sec ahead of us and drew was riding away from every one. By the last lap i was siting in 4th place and i had to run the last up hill but I was able to get back on my back and fly down the hill and trough the S turn and over the barriers and finish in 3rd and in the money. The next day the state race was at Johnaton Dickson state park another sand pit. Michelle and Will won state titles. And we won the series over all in both Junior races, both Women's, Men's C, and finish second in Men's B and Men's A(me). The race was fast pavement start on a hill and when around a corner and up hill before a U turn back down in to a sand pit then back out on to pavement and continued to go down hill after that it was in to some sandy single track then back out on to some broken pavement fallowed by some single track covered by carpet with a drop on it. Then back out on to the pavement then a turn on to grass with a set of barriers after that we when trough some mud the back out on to a pavement on a climb. then a turn on to a long gradual sandy climb up to pits and back out on to the start finish line.
JPR
