FSC #1 Tallahassee (Tom Brown Park)

     I have to start out by giving kudos to Colin Smith, one of my fellow 15-18 racers.  During the race Adam Cohen (CycleYouth/LeRoy's) and Colin were trying to pass someone in the 40-49 division who would not yield the trail.  Adam decided to just go around and crashed.  Colin stopped to help Adam up and make sure he was alright.  Then as they started again Colin told Adam to go ahead since he was in front before the crash.  As my Dad and Adam's Dad said "That was a class act move".  I am looking forward to racing with you more Colin.
     Tallahassee didn't go quite as planned.  My Dad took us on a preride and went over some of the things on the course to watch out for, like the two fence post at the start.  All of the CY/LeRoy team made it through but some other racers were not as lucky!  The second preride lap we got to open it up a little and I was feeling good.  Then the rain started.  We had a river next to our canopy.  After the rain stopped we rode a little more to see how the trail was and sure enough it was slick.




Creek Crossing

     Race Day!  I was as pumped as ever and the 11:30 start could not get here quick enough.  I went into the woods 4th and settled in.  I quickly made a few moves and worked my way up to 2nd.  I held 2nd until the first part of the second lap when 3rd got around us.  We stayed on his wheel for a while and then had trouble making quick passes as we caught other class riders.  1st opened up a gap that we were not able to close and I lost a little distance from 2nd.  I ended up 3rd for the day but was happy with my performance.  My Niner RDO performed great but I didn't have enough food in me to keep the legs turning fast enough to win it.  Lesson learned and on to the next race.  Andy kept telling us at camp that nutrition is everything and it is!  Props to Cody Ham on the win and to the rest of the CycleYouth/LeRoy's team for a great performance!

CycleYouth/LeRoy's results:
Me-3rd 15-18
Adam Cohen-5th 15-18
Madison McDaniel-5th base women
Sam Connell-3rd 11-14
Jordon Karras-4th 11-14
Ethan Audette-5th 11-14
David Jones-7th 11-14
Morgan Connell-11th 11-14
Jared Coker-18th 11-14