ITT: At the start of the ITT, I didn't know if I should go all out to make it to the A's or ride conservatively and make it in the B's. I just decided to go all out and see what happens. I didn't warm-up much, so I felt not too good at the start. I got rolling pretty well to and up the climb. I was hurting a lot though in the last long straight. In the end, I finished first in the B's, so it was a good race.
Crit: When I got to the crit, I really wanted to win to be able to expand my scant 11 second lead of 2nd place. The start was really slow, but I wanted to save as much energy as possible so I never pulled. At the prime lap, I attacked and easi,y won the 15 seconds or so. Closer to the end of the race though, I could feel my hamstrings getting tight. I wanted to attack at 1 to go on the climb, and it was coming up quickly. A couple guys did minor attacks, but got chased down after not even a minute. At one to go, a wave of 2 riders come up on my left, boxing me in. I had to wait for them to pass, and then attack, but we were already closer to the top of the hill as I wanted, so my gap wasn't optimal. As I charged through the flat section, I had a slim lead, but I was able to hold it. In turn 4, I had about 15 meters on the pack. At the bottom of the hill, the sprint had started and 2 people passed me. I sprinted, but was really exhausted and I hung on for 3rd or 4th. I still had the overall lead, but it was a pretty small gap. I knew what I had to do at the road race.
Road Race: As I got to the road race course, I knew my plan already. I was going to go for the 2 wall primes, since I knew that would be where I'm strongest against the others. Then I would try to somehow stay in front for the finish. At the start of the race, somebody attacked and stayed in front of the pack by about 30 meters for almost 10 min. Nobody wanted to do anything, so the start was pretty slow. Then, out of nowhere, the second place rider, Jeff, attacked. I had to follow him. We then got caught by the group and the race went on. There were a couple of attacks like that throughout the first lap, but none too serious. At the bottom of the wall, I was nervous, so I think I attacked a little too early. Anyways, I won the prime and Jeff and I and another guy got in a break that went all the way to the bottom of the finish climb. The rest of that lap and the beginning of lap 2 were pretty slow. Then, in a gradual downhill section on the backside of the reservoir, Jeff and another guy attacked. I sprinted a while to catch on, and they were really hammering it. When they saw I caught on, they slowed down a bit, but I encouraged them on. We worked well together with a growing gap until the bottom of the Wall. Then, I saw the group coming up behind us, about 25 seconds behind. I decided to attack, because it would be a shame to stay with the group and then lose the sprint. I distance everyone on the climb, got the prime, and started time trialing to the finish. My gap was suprisingly large, and I didn't even see the pack until after I finished. Anyways, on the last climb, my legs were aching, but the finish was getting closer and closer. When I got to the final stretch of climbing, I knew I had won. I was really happy to get that win. It was a really great race for me. After the race, I learned that some of the other racers were trying to scheme against me, but couldn't do anything. Also, Jonathan helped me a lot when I was in the breakaway he was trying to slow the pack down. Overall, this was a fun and exciting and victorious weekend down in San Jose.