Favorite race of 09

Looking back at 09, I definitely have a new favorite race, Landpark Criterium. For those of you who don't know this race, it is a flat course with a couple very sharp turns. This year I started the jr. race in hopes of getting a good result. First few laps of the race started off as any junior race, many attacks, but most insignificant. I tried launching a few ones, but none succeeded in a break. Eventually Daniel Farinha (SJBC) Zach Wick (Davis Bike Club) and Miguel Henderson (Tieni Duro) were off the front with a significant gap. With about 10 laps to go in the race, I decided I would give it my all and bridge. I went about 600m before the Start/Finish and caught up to them about 3/4 of the way through the next lap. When I hooked on I caught my breath and decided to help rotate through as I saw that our advantage over the pack was increasing. With about 1 laps to go, I put my tired face on and skipped a turn. Henderson went with about 1/2 a lap to go and immediately got about 60m on us. This made Zach Wick try and give a chase, but both Daniel and I were still on his wheel. We eventually caught Henderson and Wick decided to keep drilling it in hopes of powering away, with 200m to go, Farinha came around and launched his sprint to my right, I decided to go to the left, but right as I jumped out of the saddle, Wick closed the narrow gap that I had chosen as my path and I was forced to back off giving Daniel Farinha the win without much challenge, but I still got a decent second place.

This was a great race for me and I hope that my 2010 season will be filled with great results that I will be able to help out teammate to win many races as well.

Happy New Year and Thanks for reading,

-David Benkoski