The final tallies listed on USA Cycling's website show just where everybody finished, which is interesting in its own right, but they don't tell the real stories...
This much I know:
April's dad writes:
April had a good overall race. She raced with the Woman's 4's She hung with them until there was a prem lap. She was toward the back and the group she was with was dropped, but she hung with that group through the end. She felt that she could have hung with the main group, but she couldn't close the gap by herself once she was behind and she said the others didn't want to push to catch the main group. It's a learning experience and hopefully she will improve with each race.
That's what first races are all about... learning. April is all set to show us how much she learned at Copperopolis!
AJ writes concerning Barini's elite 5 race:
The race starts out nice and mellow but slowly starts to get faster, I look around to try and find at least one teammate but there is no success. We start to go head on in the wind which was brutal, and that is where a bunch of guys started to drop back. By now the pace has quickened as we start to climb the "sissy hill". There was a breakaway of about 5 guys and no one was going so I speed past a bunch of guys and catch up with the breakaway. I am now sitting in the back of the group of 5 guys we make a right hand turn and accelerate to about 29 mph as I am having a hard time hanging on I look up and see a pretty good climb and think to myself sh!t. As we start to climb I see that there was the main group right behind me so I let them swallow me up along with the rest of the breakaway. I make the mistake by getting behind "squirly" so I drop behind one more spot. It is now the 3rd lap and we are on the windy long sraitaway and I see a guy from DBC that was in my race that I didnt see in the beggining but he wasnt a junior. He starts to drop back from the main field so I get up next to him, told him to stay on my wheel and I pull him back up to the group. He says thanks man and we keep going. We are now about 3km from the finish and going up that climd again, right then I WAS IN THE PAIN CAVE with no extra battaries and I had dropped my flashlight. All of a sudden I hear F%$king iddiot look up and see about 4 guys crash I swerve around them and keep going. I now see the 1km sign. So I start to sprint I pass about 3-5 guys and 6 woeman. I look down at my computer and I am going 38mph then a bycicle chief guy passes me. We go down a hill then back up another small one and cross the finish line.
AJ finished ninth!
Concerning the Elite 3's...
At Land Park it was El Gigante's turn to pay back Staz for all his hard work at Merco and Menlo Park. With three to go he did just that, riding hard on the front to bring back a break. Once done, he drifted to the back, picked up Staz, and according to E.O.B., made a move up the gutter that was a thing of beauty--bodies and bikes going thru gaps that were virtually non-existent. El Gigante dropped Staz off near the front and Staz delivered... 4th place in a tailwind sprint with junior gears.
Bariani was a sufferfest... Staz and El Gigante fought thru 4 laps with the lead group that had dwindled to 35 or so before succumbing to the wind. They battled on to finish the last lap on their own.
Of life in the 4's...
PtotheArker and Tapinator turned the pedals in anger at Land Park, fighting the good fight only to get caught behind a last lap crash. Keep fighting boys. The results will come.
And the boyz playing with the big dawgs...
TK was very active in the pro/1/2 event at Land Park... covering moves, attacking, recovering. AWfoSho spent most of the race at the back of the bus getting his head together after 6 weeks out of competition. He did move to the front with three to go, serving as the set-up man for Judd Van Sickle. Once there he launched two attacks of the front that eventually sprung TK who made a bid for late race glory... off the front for two laps, caught only with half a lap to go. Once AWfoSho's job was finished at the front he quickly returned to the back seat to protect his still healing collarbone. Both kidlets finished safely in the group, but their DBC Elite teammates finished 4, 5, 6... job well done boyz.
Oh, did I mention that DBCJRT took home the Perpetual Trophy from the Land Park Junior Race for the third straight year... We also have the only athlete who's name appears on the trophy two times!!!Photo Courtesy of Rodney Cox
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