State Road Race

The state road race has come and gone. I did well and attacked enough and stayed near the front all race. The only problem was when you are reloading with an energy gel and the breakaway goes it is really hard to go with it. Needless to say they were 45 seconds ahead of us for 30 miles and WM Coast had 3 riders in it, so this means their other 17 guys in the race sat on the front and slowed everything down to allow there teammates the chance to stay away. Well coming into the sprint there were still too many guys left and it was impossible to do a full sprint unless u were in the top 5 in the peloton. As I was about 15th wheel I never got up to full speed and ended up with a top 25. Not bad considering how far I have came in 2 years, but I am very disheartened. Having only one other teammate in the race and seeing him for about 35 seconds of a 3 and a half hour race says enough. You can not do much without some artillary in the group. I have had a lot of people tell me how much I have improved and how strong I am, so after the race I made a decision. It was time for me to find a TEAM to ride for. This is in no way a discredit to the Ada guys, because honestly I have some truly great friends on that team and I care deeply about those guys. I got an offer straight after the race to ride for the Sunrise Sports team for the remainder of the season and all my gear will be covered for free. Jeff Hamilton and Jason Rafeld are two of my best cycling friends and they finished about 5 meters ahead of me today. Jeff responded to my comment of having no team members at the front for the day by saying, " come ride with us, I will get you what you need for free." The hard part about parting ways with Ada is how much I do respect the guys I raced with and how much I love the comraderie of the team. Lets be honest though, I have a chance to do something in this sport and 9 guys is better than 3. As Chris put it, it is really hard to have a team that brings riders into the sport and then can not facilitate any help for them once they improve drastically. I have done so much for this and I can not let it go to waste. It is just sad that i feel like a turncoat over this. In the long run though it will work out for the best. I can not cut ties with my Ada teammates, I will always go up and see how they are doing and ask about their lives. I just want a chance to prove I have what it takes to be a team player with a team. So to Chris, Bubbles, Baar, and Charles I am very sorry but I hope you all understand this. I was so disappointed in myself that after 4 and a half hours of racing/ riding I even got out and did another ride in the evening. It was the hardest thing that I have done in a while to tell Chris what I had been offered. But he wished me the best and told me to do what I thought was best for me. Ok, so I am tired and still disappointed in myself. What should I do though???

Friday- 2 Hours 15 Minutes.
Saturday- 2 Hours, easy with some sprints.
Sunday- 30 Minute WU, State RR- 3 Hours 30 Minutes, 30 CD. 1 Hour 30 Minutes solo after.

Week Totals- 21 Hours 15 Minutes. 720 kilometers.