A Pretty Good Month.

The month of June has been a pretty successful one, after being pretty darn consistent these past few weeks it was very rewarding to finally get the hands in the air in Reno, Nevada at the prestigious Tour De Nez, a race I'd targeted and wanted to do well in.

 The course really suit me and I had great legs coming into it, after the 6+ hour drive I was a little stiff but after spinning out for 20 minutes prior to the start I managed to find the legs in the nick of time. the crit was 90 minutes long and consisted of 6 technical corners, and to make it even more exciting it was a twilight crit which means the majority of the race was in the dark as the start time was 8:20pm. An early break went about 15 minutes into the race and I was in the pack, at first I was pretty worried as the break consisted of a few very strong riders that could easily stay away, but I wasn't the only one thinking this and a few other teams decided to put the hammer down and chase the lone riders back, after we all got back together a few other riders tried to get away but everyone was too alert and nothing stuck, while the pace was fairly high and riders were slowly dropping off the group, finally a  group managed to get away, at first I was not part of this but I suddenly realized this was pretty dangerous and only 30 minutes remained on the clock, so I bridged solo up to the group but no one wanted to work together, we got caught with 5 laps to go.

 With 3 laps left 3 riders made a last minute break for freedom, I closed it down, I knew I was going to do well as the power was good. 2 to go, teams started to form on the front and get things organized, I had no team mates left at this point so it was up to me to latch onto another team, which is what i did. 

Last lap! I was sitting third wheel, perfect positioning for this technical course, we hit the downhill section doing 40+ mph and hit the sharp right hand bend toward the finishing corner, I checked over my shoulder and the bunch was totally strung out (which is why positioning is key) Unfortunately I couldn't quite get the inside line into the last corner as someone had already gone that way so i had to lose a little speed and go wide, but I was feeling great and came past everyone on the outside to get the win!

It was a brilliant night with some fantastic racing and crowds, I also got a very cool trophy to top off an unforgettable night.

Getting to and from the race wouldn't of been possible without the Dave Rayner Fund and the great help from my team. 

Next for me is Davis 4th of July crit this coming Monday, and then Cascade Cycling Classic up in Bend, Oregon which is a 5 day stage race in the cascade mountains, its the oldest stage race in the USA! I'll be guest riding for Team Mikes Bikes.

never celebrate too early!

my awesome trophy

our lead out train