Catching Up & Looking Ahead

Been a few weeks since I was last able to get time to post, so need to do a bit of catch-up and some acknowledgements.

1-2-3 Go
Cal Aggie Crit allowed a chance to show that while some of our horse-power has moved on, others are quite happy to fill the gap and step it up. While It was Cody, Zach and Torey going 1,2,3 in the junior's race, it wouldn't have been possible without the efforts of AJ and Robby who worked selflessly to keep things together. As has been the hallmark of this group it continues to be teamwork that gets it done.

Pie Anyone?
At Cherry Pie last weekend there were highs and there were clearly lows. The juniors fields were perhaps the largest I have ever seen in NorCal at a "regular" race like this as even the 10-14 race had about 30 riders in it.

In that race the field split early as Swift, Sugar CRM and Tieno Duro all decided to have a go early. It was Swift's Stanley Goto who lit it up on lap two and his move cut the field in half. We had on one rider in the race and he made the move, it was Karch, "killer" as he was known on the BMX track the last few years. I had told him to keep it simple, let the bigger 13-14 riders on the teams slug it out, stay out of trouble and out of the wind. As the field continued to shrink he continued to hang. On the penultimate lap he was top five through he 180 and as they shuffled through the chicane on the last climb to my surprise he tried to jump the field, brave perhaps Wise? well not sure. They came through strong but he faded and I was sure he had slid back off the podium. I was surprised to learn that all of the riders in the group except for him were 13-14's, he had won. Surprise!

In the 15-18 Specialized wanted to make sure everyone knew they intended to dominate. They had 8-9 riders toe the line and from the gun they were all over the front. Sure would've been nice if they were a little more aware as with five to go the Specialized "train" derailed itself with three riders touching wheels and hitting the deck in the chicane, Tap's and Robby were unlucky victims, right place, wrong time.

Zach and Torey escaped and off the back Alex Huettis slipped by continuing to churn along ever steady, as did April another victim of bad luck in the form of a rubbing front brake. In the end the 17-18 came down to numbers and we simply came up short. El Gigante you did us proud with your gutsy shot up the inside from waaaay out, but it wasn't meant to be. Ride of the day? Torey who was always where he needed to be and after some discussion with the officials over errant results slotted 11th overall, 3rd for the 15-16 group. Superb ride.

On to the Amgen...