Windy Panoche Road Race

Last weekend was Northern California's District Road Race Championship. There was a lot of surges in our race. There were also many attacks even up the hill that it split the group. The front group consisted of 7 riders, which included myself and my teammate Jack Maddux. The wind was brutal on our way back that no one wanted to work. This caused those that were dropped the opportunity to catch us. Since I knew that we were going to have a field sprint, the plan was for Jack to lead me out. But our plan was spoiled because we were boxed in with about 500 m to go. Then at 200 m Dylan Drummond jumped and held it to the line and I finished 3rd by a bike throw.

Grass Valley Training Camp and Panoche Road Race

Hey there guys,
The Grass Valley Training Camp was loads of fun, but at the same time being very hard. Day 1: We did a 60 mile ride with I believe to be 7,000 feet of climbing. It was very, very hard. I rode with my teammate Matthew for most of the ride. Overall fun day. Day 2: 104 miles, 2 sprints, 1 KOM and many more miles. There was an excellent lunch provided by the Philipp's. We had approximately a 3 hour lead on the pros and after that lunch it about down to 45 minutes. Thank you for the lunch, I really appreciate it. Thanks for that weekend, it was tons of fun.

Panoche, the NCNCA Road Race State Championships. It was a different, unusual race. The field was surging. Attack after attack, after attack. Our speeds would go from 25mph to 10mph causing many "dropped" riders to catch back in the group. I was in this race with my teammate Matthew. It came down to a field sprint, Matthew placed 3rd and I placed 5th. It was a good course, VERY windy. Kudos to: All 17-18 riders, Marcus Smith, Larry Nolan, Dean Laberge, Craig Roemer, and Billy Innes, you guys did great this weekend.

~Jack Maddux

Panoche Road Race

Sunday was the Panoche Valley Road Race. Peter, Andrew, David, Daniel, James, and I raced 67 miles in the 17-18's field. The real racing began when we got to the climb. Andrew made a strong attack and got a decent gap. Shortly after, Peter bridged up to him and the gap began to increase quickly. The rest of us covered attacks. With about 26 miles to go, Peter and Andrew's gap was up to 4 minutes. I looked at the faces of other riders and saw that they were hurting from the harsh headwind so I attacked. I looked back and realized nobody was on my wheel and the field wasn't chasing. I put myself into time trial mode and after 6 miles, the gap between me and the field was at 1:30. With 2 miles to go, I finally reached Peter and Andrew. We agreed that Peter would take the win, Andrew would take 2nd, and I would take 3rd. After crossing the line, we waited a few minutes for the rest of the team to come in. David won the field sprint, James finished 6th, and Daniel finished 8th. What a great weekend!