James's 15-16 National Crit

After a little misunderstanding between James and I we each wrote entries about the National Crit. As you all know, two people never see the same race the same way. So here is James's view of the Crit.

After the race, this race was definitely the hardest, but the most fun race to watch throughout the whole day! Even USA Cycling said that our race was the most exciting race of the day! We had a field of about 70 guys, ans part of the course goes through a brewery, so the road was really small. The race started, and as I guessed, there was a huge pile up going around the first turn. This probably took out about a quarter of the field including 3 of my teammates( David, Chris, and Allistair)! Right after the crash, Yannick Eckmann(5280) attacked and had a gap. He had the field strung out for 9 out of the 25 laps on our 1km course. Our lap times were a speedy 1:30 about every time we went through those first 9 laps! Eventually, we caught Yannick, then Andrew put in some good attacks and brought back a lot of guys that would try to break away. While Andrew was doing all the work, Marcus and I were sitting in the pack waiting for the sprint or the right time to attack. The race settled down, and with one lap to go, there was either a split in the field, or a crash, but I do know that all the sprinters were up in the lead group , including me. Marcus then bridged up to my group of about 10, and went straight by us and attacked out of the group, and surprisingly, nobody jumped onto his wheel! Then, two 5280 guys were on the front, just keeping Marcus in striking distance with me right behind them and Cory Williams behind me. With about 300 meters to go, Marcus was still right in front of us, and I started my sprint! Unfortunately, as I started my sprint one of the 5280 guys started moving over, moving me into the sidewalk. So, I had to slow down. As I shad to slow down Cory Williams started his sprint, and there was nothing that I could do. I had to take the last bend on the very outside. Cory Williams eventually won the sprint. I ended up finishing in 4th, and Marcus 6th; best for 15 year olds! Congrats Marcus! As I look back now, I should have followed Marcus when he attacked because I could have started my sprint in front of everybody else and not have to worry about trying to get around anybody to start my sprint. In Conclusion, it was a great team effort, and this 15-16 squad received a medal at nationals!