A lot has happened since the Valley of the Sun stage race in Arizona in February. I have been working on school and training a lot. I went back to Arizona a week after the stage race and then one more time over Easter break for the official team training camp where I got to meet all of my teammates and get all of my cool team gear.
This past weekend was the first official team race in Cambridge, New York. The Tour of the Battenkill is a one day road race that is 65 miles long and includes a lot of climbing, gravel roads, and beautiful scenery. This is a big and important race which many juniors show up to. I arrived on Saturday at noon after a ten hour car ride that my family split into two days. I got my number, went for a ride, and then met with my teammates for dinner at a great Mexican restaurant to get some fuel in our bodies and to talk over strategy. After dinner, I went back to my hotel to get a good night's sleep.
The morning of the race was very cold, but it looked as though the sun was going to come out soon. My teammates and I rode to the start line and it was time to go. The race started off very slow and the hills were the only hard parts. Everyone knew that the real action doesn't come until the final hills within the last 7 miles. My teammates were great and set the pace at the front. At mile 40 I saw my chance to try and bridge up to the two man break up the road. I soloed for the next ten miles and I made a decent gap for myself. I only could reach within 25 seconds of the two riders ahead of me though. At mile 51 I got caught by a raging field that was getting ramped up for the finish.
By this time, I only had one teammate left in the group, and I did not have that much energy left inside of myself. My objective now changed to helping him have the best possible chance at taking the win. I went to the front and took pulls with other teams to bring back the breakaway. After a few hard pulls, I was done and the next hill shot me off of the back of the group. I rode in the last 4 miles with six others and got third in the sprint. I finished 18th overall out of 58 starters.
This was a very fun weekend and I am so proud of how my team did. My teammate David Lombardo got sixth in my race! We couldn't have done it without the rest of our teammates. They worked their butts off! I am feeling in great shape and I am excited for the bigger races in July. I would like to thank my parents, ISCorp/Intelligentsia Cycling Team, Trek, Bontrager, Spy sunglasses, and Billy Jones for all of their help and support!
