Nevada City Classic

The night before I stayed at my grandparent’s house that live down near Yuba City so it was a short drive over to Nevada City and I was well rested and ready to rock. I was planning on doing the Juniors Race and Elite 3, but I guess I was not supposed to. I got good and warmed up and ready for the juniors race and I felt ready. I got all rolled out and just as I was shifting up and everyone was on the line I heard a snap and my rear derailleur would not move. I needed help and quick and luckily my dad had brought cables with us and he had to run all the way to the car and Dave Toll was able to stall the start of the race for us. My dad tried his best to get it going but he could not and I told the ref to just start the race. My Nevada City junior’s race was over so I needed to put in a good ride in the 3’s. I didn’t feel too terrible until I watched the guys race by and I really wanted to be in their. Nevada City is probably my favorite race, the course is straight up and down with an awesome high speed corner and the crowds are always big and excited. Well I got lunch and then got ready to go again for the 3’s race and got a good warm up and rolled out once again. We had to sit on the starting line for a while and I knew that the start would be crucial. The first lap was supposed to be neutral but the motor was not able to hear that we had started and we took off and then someone fell on my rear wheel but I was able to keep going. I got up into the top 3 and I was confused if it was neutral or not but we just got going. Throughout the race I sat 3rd wheel almost the entire time. I thought that was the best place because I did not have to work at the front and I did not have to chase much after the big high speed turn. We got down near the end and our group was only about 10 guys. I wanted to attack on the last lap and get a good enough lead that I could hold onto until the finish because I did not have a chance in a downhill sprint due to my junior gears. Well on the last lap I took off on the climb and I got going pretty good and got a little gap. I then began to wonder if it really was the last lap because it did not seem like they were chasing very hard. I eased up a bit and got back into the pack and then some guys attacked near the top and I had no chance and I just sprinted it into 4th. I was happy with my race but I think that I could have won if I had committed to my attack.