Click here for video of this race
This past weekend in San Antonio, FL I did the Cat. 3 road race which consisted of 68 miles.  It was a 17 miles loop with many hills.  I stayed in the pack the entire race.  There were attacks here and there and with 1 lap to go a break stuck, but I remained in the pack.  Coming down the final leg of the course I started feeling a twitching of a cramp coming on, but it never cramped up which made me real happy.  There was one crash with a couple of guys in front of me.  I was lucky that I found a path right through the center.  Then, the sprint opened up at the top of the last hill.  I starting sprinting down the far left side of the road.  I was moving up fast but unfortunately, there was a car which was sticking out and I had to move back in and finished where I was, 21st out of 60ish.

 Sunday was a technical criterium race in downtown Dade City.  In the morning I did the Jr. 17-18 race.  This race had about 30 racers and was very fast right from the gun, which is typical in a junior race.  I stayed near the front of the pack during which there were constant attacks.  There was one break that stuck with 2 of my teammates and 3 others.  Then Cody Johnson attacked and I covered.  We got half a lap on the field and were closing in on the break.  We never did catch the break and I finished 4th in the 17-18’s.

Then later in the day I did the cat. 3 race.  This race had a big field of 40ish racers.  I had one of my best races ever.  In a technical course, with crashes, I managed to stay in the top 10 of the pack the entire race.  With 2 laps to go about 5 people crashed right in front of me.  I managed not to go down and hopped onto the sidewalk, went around and got back on the road.  As there were no more free laps, I had to give it my all to catch back on.  I caught onto the pack with less than 1 lap to go and I was not able to move up.  I finished 24th, a little bummed out, but really happy that I had one of my best races position wise.

I’m looking forward to racing next weekend in Sanford and Lake Mary.
Until then,
Craig

Click here for video of this race
This past weekend was Team Florida’s race weekend in Gainesville, FL. I went up early Saturday morning for an ITT and a TTT in the afternoon which is always a lot of fun and pain. Then on Sunday was a Crit. in downtown Gainesville.

Saturday 2/9

I did the Cat. 3 ITT on a somewhat rolling course. There was a cross-tail wind on the way out on the total 8.7 mile tt. I pushed myself as hard as possible, motivating myself the entire way. After going around the turn around, there was a harsh cross-head wind and slight uphill which let me know that I would have a long hard trip back to the finish. I managed a decent time for myself in a tt with a 20:58 finishing 19th. I’m ok with my performance and know I need to work on my time trialing.
After doing that, later in the afternoon was the TTT with Neal Shepherd, Sean Lynch and Brandon Upson. It was the same course, but this one was 12.8 miles. We did a great job of pulling, staying in the drafts, and rotating. We finished 3rd amongst the 3,4,5 and would have been 3rd as well in the pro,1,2,3. We finished 6th over all with a huge field. It’s pretty cool having juniors beating a lot of the adults.
 

Sunday 2/10

Today was a crit. in downtown Gainesville, FL. The course had in turns 1 and 2 bricks (or as I want to say [cobbles]) with a bit of a rough stretch coming out of turn 2. A long, fast downhill into turns 3 and 4 and a uphill to the finish. I tried just sitting in the pack and seeing how I would do. As the first crit. of the season, it seemed that people are back into the pack racing yet, but over all it was safe. I finished in the pack at the end.

I’m looking forward to San Antonio and Dade City where I have had very good performances the past two years in a row and hope to continue that tradition.

Today was the first race and ITT of the year out near St. Cloud, FL, flat as a pancake in the middle of nowhere. I started the cat. 3 time trial ready to give it my all and get it over with as fast as possible. There isn’t really much to say but I went out 6.2 miles and back 6.2 miles. There was one section that had some horrible smell that made it a little hard to breath, but other than that it went well. The person behind me had not gained anything at the turn around and I could see that I was closing rapidly on the guy in front of me. Knowing this, I was motivated even more to try to catch the guy in front. I almost got him at the line with a 10th place 29:57. This is one of my better ITT performances and look to break 28 next.

This year I decided to attend the southeast development camp in Greenville, SC and I’m very glad I did. We stayed in a dorm on Furman University right by the Blue Ridge Mountains! Below is a summary of my day by day week at camp.
Sunday
We arrived around noon Sunday and unpacked and loaded up our dorm room. We had about a 2 hour social ride in the late afternoon. We go and eat in the cafeteria which had good food. Also, we went to a classroom lecture from 7 to 8.
Monday
Woke up at 6:30 and left for ride at 8:45. We did a skills and drills ride in the parking lot in the morning for around 1hr 50min. We practiced various cornering techniques and sprinting drills. That afternoon we left for another fairly easy social ride for about 2 hrs.
Tuesday
Finally we hit the mountains! We did a 2 hr ride out to a mountain called Caesar’s Head. Today was the first of the many time trials to come. It was the short mountain time trial of 1.9mi and avg. of 6% grade. I have to say that this was a very different type of time trial than I am used to. I finished 3rd in my age group of 14-16. Then we did another 2 hr ride back to campus.
Wednesday
Back out to Caesar’s Head! We did a 1hr 30min ride out to the mountain for the long mountain time trial which was 3 mi and avg. of 6% grade. I tried to conserve myself a little more at the beginning so I wouldn’t blow myself up too early. I tied for 3rd place in my age group. After riding the TT, we then rode up to the top of the mountain for lunch. It was a great view, and the descent was great! Then a 1hr 30min ride back to campus.
Thursday
Today we did a 1hr ride out to do 4 partially flat TT repeats. It was 2 mi with a short hill at the start and then a short downhill to a flat/gradual uphill to the finish. They combined our times for all 4 and I finished 3rd in my age group. Then we did a 30 mile ride finishing with an 8 miles climb up Paris mountain to a bakery. This was the only day we were in a group and allowed to race against each other. I made the lead break of 10 riders. It was a very fast pace with attacks happening all the time. We ate at a bakery and then rode 30 mi back down the mountain and to campus. This ride ended up being 100mi. We went to the evening lecture and they announced the results for overall and the age groups. I was very happy that I claimed 2nd place in the GC for my age group of 14-16.
Friday
There was going to be a 1hr easy ride in the morning, but due to weather and more, there was no ride.
This concludes my week at camp. I had a great time, met many people and can’t wait to go back next year!