Medina Reagan Park Time Trial

Today was one of my favorite races, the Reagan Park Time Trial. The main reason I love this race is it's my home course. It may not be the closest but being a group rider for the Wednesday night rides here I know the trail better than any other. It also holds something special as last years race was the first that I completed without a mechanical (Manatoc had the broken chain last year) and I ended up placing fourth. This lit the fire for me and now I'm here... So the calm before the storm...

Once again I had a small fan club of my parents and the wonderful Sara, add onto all the people I've befriended this year, there was plenty of hobnobbing to be done before the race. At around noon we had the processional over to Reagan Park for the start. Being a novice ready I had to sit around at the start for an hour for my time to go. I cheer on my friends and teammates while I wait. An hour after arriving at the start my number is called and I set up at the start line. Quickly down a Gu and clip in. The countdown ends and I'm off. One pedal stroke in I pull out of my pedal and lose a couple seconds, which only drives me on faster. I enter the singletrack flying, I'm back in the zone and feeling good, until I wash out on the loose dirt on a switchback and go down, giving me some nasty "road rash" and knocks my saddle to the left. I get up and try knocking my seat back but it won't budge. I do get it moved over enough so that I can pedal.

After that I started to pick off riders left and right, swerving around them as I haul through the trail. By the time I reach Reagan Parkway I've passed about 10 riders and I'm feeling good. In the connector trail I'm able to open up and gain some time as I didn't catch anyone. Coming up onto Weymouth road catch two riders. I'm on the second riders tail when I pass Sara who was helping out and taking pictures. I latch onto his wheel and draft him through the gravel double track. After the first climb at Huffman he relents and pulls off and lets me pass. I'm now behind a single speed rider, he sprints hard up the hill and pulls a gap and I re catch him on the downhill. We fight like this for a while until he can't make it up a steep uphill and I pass him. I enjoy the fast flowing last part of the trail and finish strong. I wait around for my time. I'm one of the first in my age group to come across, and the times sheets showed me in first, but with only one other rider in. I wait for a while until it's confirmed I got another win.

It was a strong showing for the CAMBA race team and CAMBA Members.

CAMBA Race Team:

Andrew Miller- 1st Novice

Jeff Cochran- 2nd Expert

Micheal Ryba- 3rd Sport

Darren Spence- 5th Sport

Brian Lennon- 9th expert

CAMBA Members-

Micheal Bloomhuff- 2nd Sport

Frank Dessoffy- 2nd sport

Brian Jay- 7th sport

Good job to all the CAMBA race team and CAMBA members for their strong showing. Thanks to Bike Authority, Kenda, Crank Brothers, Ritchey Products, and Rudy Project for helping us race.