Lesson's  Learned        
                 Since the nationals are coming up, I thought it would be a good idea to go over the lessons and what I've learned up to this point in the season. I've been lucky enough to have some great people around me and guide me to this point. I've had Larry Nolan who teach's me tactics and help's me look at things differently. He's also taught me to think about what I've learned during the race and how I could have done things differently. He's given me training programs to help me prepare for big races.
               There's been Rich Bartlett whose been my training partner since I started racing BMX at the age of 7. Since then he has continued to help me train and get me stronger on the road and mountain biking. He's  also taught me to be humble and helps me push myself to my potential.
               And more recently Mike Bell and Roy Knickman have been giving advice when I'm at the races at Southern California. Both of them very accomplished athletes. The help and advice that these gentlemen have given me I hold in high reguard at every race.
               At Merco Stage Race it had appeared that everything had gone right, I got in a break away, got caught, then on the last lap coming to the finish I went to soon during the finishing sprint got passed right at the finish line. End up 3rd that day but knowing that if I waited a little bit longer, I would have won.
               Now at Madera Stage Race I ended up 4th in crit.,was just outsprinted by stronger riders. But more importantly in the road race, everything seemed to go right. All my tactics were going well, chased down a break away. But at this point there were only 8 riders left, including me with 5 miles to go I got two flats. I knew at that point my race was over. Lesson learned, you can't beat bad luck.
               More recently at the Sea Otter Classic,I learned how very important team work is. By working for my teammates we were able to finish 2nd, 3rd and 4th. We worked together to allow Jack and another rider to stay away to the finish, I was also able to lead out my other teammates on the last lap so that they could finish 3rd and 4th, it was very satisfing.
               So with all this good advice and guidance that these gentlemen have given me and the mistakes that I made and hopefully I've learned from them, and with hard work, the team and I should do good at the nationals. And one last thing that I've learned is that good sportsmanship and having fun is everything.

                                                                                                          Sean McELroy