After an exciting day at the Snelling Road race, a few of us (Bob, Spence and Alex) headed down to downtown Merced early Sunday morning (around sunrise), in order for the Juniors to race Elite 4 at the Merced Criterium. After the very rainy Friday, and the fairly wet roads at Snelling, at Merced the weather and conditions turned out MUCH better than I was expecting. Cold (high 40's) but clear and sunny conditions for the 50 minute race.
The race went really well – the Juniors were among a field of 50-60 adult riders, and they maintained good positions mid-pack for the first few laps (of the 25 lap race).
Alex really rode very smartly and held back for the first 2/3 of the race, then moved up to the front around lap 20 in order to get into position. On the final lap head moved into the number two place, and positioned himself ideally for the finish straight & sprint.
On the finish straight, Alex went head-to-head with Hank from Roaring Mouse (21 year-old) and almost made it ahead, but ran out of gearing spinning his Jr gears, so he came away with a solid 2nd place, and probably with close to enough points to upgrade to Cat 3.
Spence had a good race, finishing in the Top 20, and Bob managed through 20 laps before flatting in the last 5 laps, where his race ended.
All in all, another good demonstration of how the Juniors are progressing in tactics, as well as their power.
Photos of the race are here.
No comments:
Post a Comment