Charlotte and Gabe headed out to the central valley for the Snelling road race, while Monica and I were in Yellowstone. Sounds like it was a cold, but dry day to ride some beautiful roads with the other juniors. They started hammering right away, and Gabe was happy with his 9th place finish.
This year Monica and I are headed back to [Yellowstone] (https://www.nps.gov/yell) to enjoy the awesome wildlife and scenery again. I didn’t collect a lot of photos this year, as Monica and I shared the large lenses and she posted a lot of her work on her blog. You can read her entries for day 1, 2, 3456. I’ve put a few of my favorite photos here for you to enjoy. Unfortunately the wildlife was very sparse this year, but we did manage to get some great fox photos. We did have a load of fun, right up to the point I got a bad fever and cough for the last few days. It was a treat to meet Chris Miller and his wife for dinner and talk about genealogy and life in Montana. ...
Yesterday Gabe did the Pine Flat road race, and this afternoon it’s the Dinuba Criterium. He’ll be riding a small loop thirty times around very quiet Dinuba. This huskie anxiously awaits the start with the rest of us. Right away Jack from Specialized powers off the front as if today was a time trial. One guy manages to hang on for a couple of laps before running out of steam. Gabe is staying right on Aidan’s wheel, and the small group is working well together. ...
It’s a holiday weekend and we’re off to the central valley for some quality bike racing. First stop is the Pine Flat road race. It was pouring rain on the way out, but this morning it’s a fine day for racing. It’s going to be a long course with quite a bit of climbing, but fortunately Gabe’s junior field is pretty small. And the four of them are off up the steep short hill at the start. ...
Last week was the last training race, and today is the real thing. Fortunately the field isn’t packed with the usual ringers from SJBC or Specialized, so Gabe is hoping for a good finish. It’s a slower pace than previous races, and I’m happy to see Gabe hanging right at the front of the pack the whole race. He holds a pretty decent position on the last turn and pulls off a sixth with Ryan from Steven’s Bicycles taking first. ...
We’re off to the Cherry Pie Criterium this weekend for Gabe’s first big official group crit. He’s pretty nervous considering he’s lumped in with the 17-18 year old group, and there are tons of advanced category riders. Looks like Specialized, SJBC, Tieni Duro, and Team Swift are here in force. A slow clip in doesn’t bode well. The pack is moving very fast today and there’s one crash at the switch over that came close to Gabe. They’ll be heading up and over this hill quite a few times. Specialized is working really hard at the front. ...
Gabe did very well at last week’s Early Bird Criterium, and we’re back again for another race. The field is quite a bit smaller given the rain today, but it looks like SJBC is here with a few of their best. I wish they had shown up at the group ride for SJBC we did together yesterday, so they would have known him and they could have worked together. ...
Gabe was sick last weekend and missed the second Early Bird Criterium, but he’s excited to do another one after a successful first race. It’s another big field, but fortunately the Spokesman rabbit isn’t here today. The pack holds together nicely for the whole race, though Gabe had to slow once for another rider’s slight crash. He’s in great position for the last couple of laps. The finish was easily won by one guy, then second and third by another, followed by the fast pack. Gabe was tired, but pulled in a nice fifth place finish. I think he’s got the fever now. ...
Gabe’s planning on doing all the Early Bird Criterium races this year, and here we are for the first mentoring and racing session. A bit of warmup on the rollers, and it’s off to the start of the race. It’s a good sized field, and I’ve tried to pass on the key advice Gabe will need today. The pack wound up getting shredded when a really fast Spokesman guy took off the front. After a couple of laps between two packs, Gabe dropped to the second pack and finished a strong first. Outstanding job Gabe! ...
Gabe’s racing season gets off to a start with the San Bruno Hill Climb. There’s plenty of rain and cold threatening as usual, but fortunately there’s a somewhat sunny pocket just for the race. Warming up is a trick at this race, but we’ve got the tent and rollers that do the job nicely. It’s too bad the long line of starting groups cools him down completely before the start. I know Gabe is nervous with national champions and older kids in this race, but he’ll do his best. I think he was happy with his result of 22:20.7 for the day. ...