So far this season I have put all my focus and effort into helping the team do well because I was a late winter edition to the team, have no team racing experience, and have only recently obtained my cat2 status. We have had a packed calendar of racing so far which has been awesome. It's been full of much learning, fun, as well as team success. TMB opens many doors for it's riders with a solid structure that includes opportunities to do big races. Though since most are exclusively Pro/1 fields, I can't attend.
This past Sunday was my first chance to go point hunting. Fellow teammate Travis Lyons and his family kindly drove me out to some races in Livermore at the third Red Kite Crit of the season. Travis and my first race was in the category 2/3 field and we were joined by TMBEquator Masters member Mike Foley, racing his second race of the day. The plan was to race conservatively by following moves and if the race stayed together we were to jump hard before the final corner from a few wheels back. Anyway, the race started and I got a bottle of wine by taking the first lap prime. Thanks to tacky S-Works Turbo tires I squeezed through on the inside of the final corner, coming from third wheel, and carried enough extra speed to get a sizable gap. Then I just pounded the pedals to the l(w)ine!
Walton and Travis, finishing 1-2
Travis got in a move. It eventually came back. Mike chased breaks, and kept the race together. Before long the lap cards were up and showing seven laps to go. Mike, Travis, and I got together and kept a good inside position over the next few laps. Going into bell lap the pace wasn't too high so we paid extra attention to protect the inside line. Mike rotated off going into the second to last corner. Travis jumped 100 meters before the last corner. 1500 watts dropped from a few wheels back and we were dustin' fools up the inside. The plan was to go late so that lead-out man Trav could still hold on for a result. This is exactly how it went down, we came out of the corner with a gap—first and second—and held it to the line. Travis sat up in the final meters to let me snag the extra upgrade point, what a bro. All in all, it was a fun day and we left with a combined seven bottles of wine and nine upgrade points. Bam!
-Walton
