1st – Pro Men

1 Lap, 24 Miles

Teammates: Casey (50 Miler)

Coming into this race I felt a bit tired, but still had high

expectations of my self. The race took off fairly quick on a steep

grade that nearly lasted a couple of miles. I got a good jump at the start and led out the field as the road climbed. Miguel Valadez jumped on my wheel and we quickly rode away from the rest of the field. Miguel seems to always ride strong on this particular course so I knew it was going to be a challenging race. Within minutes he started a constant string of attacks. I sat back and held a strong pace. I’d slowly creep back up to his wheel, only to have him pop out of the saddle and sprint off again. This happened several times until I finally reeled him in for good as the climb slightly flattened out.

I came up along side him and started pushing pretty hard at my own pace. I was able to pick up my tempo towards the end of the climb as my legs started coming around. I glanced back to see that I had put a little bit of time on Miguel. From then on I just pushed the pace and made sure not to get caught. I rode the rest of the race solo. I sat in rider traffic for the last ten minutes of the race, as I’m sure most everyone else in the pro field did as well. I came in at a comfortable pace to take the win.

Congrats to Casey for killin’ it in the super-tough UET race!

Thanks,

Zach Valdez