Freddie who?

The Ronde van Brisbeen circuit race was my first Pro 1/2 race and words cannot describe how nervous I was. So nervous that I forgot to bring a water bottle to the start line and forgot to roll-out my junior gears. Joel came to my aid with the bottle and the officials brought me to the front at the start after a last minute roll-out, but I was still shaking on the start line. The reason I was so nervous: BMC, Healthnet, and Freddie Rodriguez. Pretty intimidating for a 17 year old, especially since I had been traveling and not training all week. The first 15 minutes of the race scared the living daylights out of me because I felt sluggish and I wasted some energy trying to follow a breakaway on the hill. I was pretty sure after three laps that I would not finish the race in the pack. I learned very quickly that it is a terrible attitude to have because it just made me feel worse. The race went on, though, and I started to feel better. The pack split into two with all the pros up front and just about everyone else in the second group (including me). I thought for sure that the front group would stay away, but apparently two BMC guys went off the front of the front group, so BMC stopped pushing the pace. This allowed my group to catch back up and all was back together about halfway into the race. The two BMC riders, Nathan Miller and Brent Bookwalter, built a gap of a minute and held it all the way to the finish. I was feeling much stronger at the halfway point into the race, so I stayed toward the front and followed wheels. Next thing I knew, with four laps to go I was in a chase group of 15 riders with Fast Freddie, and a bunch of other pros. I hung on for dear life and put myself through a whole lot of pain to stay with the group. Freddie and two other riders went off the front, so there was 7 of us in the group with one lap to go. At this point, I was suffering pretty badly. The descent was brutal with junior gears, so the group gapped me, but I fought back on at the bottom of the climb. After my effort to catch back on, I had nothing left and dropped off the back of the chasers. The front end of the main group caught me at the finish line, so I finished 20-25th. All in all, it was a hard day of closing gaps and staying out of the wind. I surpassed my expectations for the race and surprised myself at how competitive I could be. It was a successful first pro 1/2 race and thanks to Dylan, Mike, Larry, and Craig for giving me pre-race advice!!

-Charlie Avis