Having spring break for college before a long traveling weekend is always helpful in getting homework done and not having to do it on the road like at Merco and San Dimas. So I was able to get that all done and get all packed up Friday morning/afternoon and headed down to a town called Buellton, CA in the mid afternoon. With some traffic, we got down to Buellton at 10pm and got some shut eyes before the big race the next day. I woke up and went on down to breakfast. My dad and brother, Chris had already came back from breakfast warning me about a long line and that I should go down there now to wait in line. I did just that and came back to my room to rest up for the race.
Back to the race, I went early to get my number and watch my brother's race and then came back to put my race number on. At this point, it was perfect race conditions: low to mid 60's and sunny with a few clouds passing by. I got my bags packed and traveled back to the race, and with still sunny skies, it looked like a nice day in So Cal for my racing! That is until around the 3 O'clock time when the clouds came over the mountains and started to rain. It only got harder, and it only got colder. Many people just got in their cars and put leg warming cream on and knew that they were for a rough one. I jumped to the start line 5 minutes before the start and luckily they shortened the race from 90 to 60 minutes due to weather; it was nasty. I started off good; following some big attacks and being active; knowing that it was likely that a break would eventually get away due to the narrow course and harsh conditions. I eventually started to crack halfway through the race and it was still all together, so I decided to try to rest and sit back a little bit farther in the pack (50-riders). There were two turns where Justin Williams would sprint out of and I would have a hard time chasing down, which happened to both be in the cross-wind sections. I'm not saying it was Justin's fault, but the guys at the front were doing that too so he had to do the same thing to stay on in the slipstream. I eventually got popped with 15 minutes to go, where there were roughly only 30 riders left.
Rough day for me with the conditions. Wish I had done better but it's bike racing and I kept my skin for another day!
-James
