Rider Diary: Cycling Recycling Stage Race 2012 by Maxx Chance
Cycling Recycling Junior Road Stage Race, April 27,28,29
Race Report by Maxx Chance
This weekend saw the second annual CyclingRecycling Junior Stage Race. This fantastic junior only event was a great race for the team and me. Last year I raced in the JM 15-16 age group and won, this year I raced up a category, in the JM 17-18’s, and won again! Below I will try to break apart the 3 days of crazy fun racing as best I can.
Stage 1: The Time Trial. I was scrambling after school to get my TT stuff together for my 5:01 start because of poor planning the night before (not getting my stuff together and my bike prepped the day before). It was close but I made it to the TT, held at Bear Creek Lake Park in Lakewood, on time and had a great race. I took 2nd on the short windy course and was stoked to be sitting 2nd going into the road race. A fellow BJCer, Ian Mcpherson, choose to take a dip in the freezing lake before the ride home in an attempt to speed up his recovery, that crazy kid!
Stage 2: Koppenberg Road Race. I spun over to the race venue in Superior with Ian at 7:00 in the morning and practically froze on the start line waiting for them to start the race. Head coach Jon Tarkington wanted us to be super aggressive on the road race because we were only doing two 5.5 mile laps and had more guys than any other team. Although the race went very well for me, the team did not perform the way we had hoped because we did not attack nearly enough as we should have. Ian attacked the group on the last hill on the last lap. We found ourselves off the front with two other guys. Coming into the finishing straight, the race Leader had a small gap so the sprint was very tough. I managed to win the race with Ian slotting in 4th place. Our other teammate in the 17-18’s, Andrew Fleming rode in for 8th place. I was now sitting in first place going into the last day with Ian tied for 4th and Andrew in 8th place.
Stage 3: The Crit. This was by far the best race for the team and was very reminiscent of the crit last year. The race, held at the Golden Corporate Business Park, started out with a few small attacks from our team. None were being chased very hard so Ian decided to lay all of his cards on the table and go for it. He sped off the front like a formula 1motorcar and got a small gap, the field was not too keen to chase him so his lead continued to extend. After a few laps solo, Andrew dug deep into his suitcase of courage and went into beast mode and soloed up to Ian to make it 2 BJCer’s off the front. The field began to get worried and the 2 riders sitting in 2nd and 3rd in GC (general classification) took up the chase. I tried to block as best I could in the field to help Ian and Andrew stay off the front. They worked like two busy bees off the front and managed to extend their lead and hold their gap to the finish. I countered an attack from Spencer on the last lap and rode in solo for 3rd place in the crit. I was ecstatic at the finished not only because I had won the race 2 years in a row but also because Ian and Andrew finished ahead of me. BJC ripped the race to shreds and made it hard on everyone else, exactly what Jon had wanted. We went 1,2,3 on the day and Ian moved Into 2nd on GC!
I am extremely proud of our new team and cannot wait to finish out the season kicking butt! Also a big shout out the other BJCer’s the also went beast mode at the Cycling Recycling Stage Race! I also learned an important lesson: check my cleats pre-race! Turns out I had a broken cleat the whole road race, who knew.
Thanks for braving my first race report. More to come!