State Road Championships

 

 

       This years state road champs was definitely something to remember. I came into this 50 mile road race with a ton of confidence with the intension of winning or helping my teammate Jules win. Each lap being 25 miles each I knew going solo would be something very difficult, especially on this course. Every lap had a fair amount climbing in it, so I guess you can say it was a course for the climbers.  

 

        About 20 minutes into the race we finally reached the first of the few hills and as soon as the group settled into a rhythm, I attacked. Distancing my rivals I got about a minute gap until the cable to my shifting snapped off leaving me in the small ring for the remainder of the first lap. I was eventually caught by the field and trying to hang on the back spinning my brains out trying to keep up. As I started the climb to the finish I stopped on the side of the road and Mr. Castellano stuck a rock in my derailleur so that I can get into my big ring.

 

         I eventually got back into the group and as soon as we started to ascend on the second lap, I attacked with anger because I don't find it cool to attack someone when having a mechanical and I was definitely going to finish what I started. I quickly opened up a 3 minute gap and it continued to grow from there. As I approached the finish I took a quick look back and I was finally able to relax. I sat down on the hot pavement totally exhausted waiting to see how my teammate Jules would finish and he came away with an excellent 3rd place. I must say Jules helped me a lot in this victory by pushing the pace on the steep grades. Jules and I celebrated with another win for the team.

 

             

                                 See you next time, Sean