Apple Pie Criterium

The Apple Pie Criterium was my first race of the year, and although I had some rough times I feel that I have gotten a great base for this year and was excited to see how I could do against the other junior racers. It was raining when I got to the business park nice and early. I took it easy getting ready and did not do a great warm up, but I felt decent. I was debating how I should handle the race considering the Davis Bike Team now has three very strong riders and I was pretty much on my own. At the start I got my foot clipped in super fast and I decided I might as well break it up now and I took off. This worked reasonably well, and I ended up in a break with two Davis riders and a Los Gatos rider. The Davis riders started to beat up on us and the Los Gatos rider wasn’t doing much to help me, and he was a better sprinter than me so I did a hard little interval and dropped him. I’m still not quite sure if this was a good move because that put me into a position with the two Davis riders and I. They attacked me for a little while and then one of them got off the front of me. Then the other attacked and I made the mistake of not staying with him, and they both got up the road together and I was stuck in no mans land. We had gained a decent lead on the remains of the pack and I was able to stay where I was and finish in third. I felt that I had done well considering the situation that I had been in, but I also think that I could have at least got second. I won $25 though and feel good about the race and the kind of shape that I am in.