Imperial Valley Criterium Feb 9th

The 2nd race of the year went much better than the 1st. I ate really well as you can see by my photo log (so no ribbing about my diet people). The race I entered only had 21 participants. This is not a good thing if you want to hide and do no work. Luckily I was feeling strong and that was not my plan.
So, the race started off hard with many attacks. Groups of 4 and 5 guys kept trying to get away, I sat in 6th and 7th place following everything but not getting on the front. Right at about 20 minutes Jorge attacked the field solo and we all let him go. He usually tries this and always comes back eventually. The field started chasing and one of the guys doing a lot of the work (Shane Lawler) rolled away and bridged across to Jorge. It was now a 2 up race with 22 minutes to go. The field backed off the pace for quite some time and one of Shanes teammates (Justin) was blocking for him. But like always they brought the speed back up and started chasing again. One of the guys (Black Jack) doing a lot of the work on the front won the race right before ours and I was trying to stay close to him in case he got away. Black Jack finally did slip away with another rider but I missed the move and my legs were loosing there snap. So if I was nearby I don't know if I could have gone with the move. At this point there are now 5 laps to go and the field was backing off the pace again. Right before 4 to go I was moving to the front of the field with a lot of momentum and the entire field was slowing down; so as soon as I was at the front I attacked in hopes of bridging across to the 2nd group on the rode. I only stayed away for half a lap and then they started chasing me really hard so I let them catch me and got back in the group. The next 2 laps were very static which gave me an opportunity to recover from the flyer I took.
With 1 lap to go I decided who I was going to follow (Jan pronounced Yan) in the sprint for 6th. Jan consistently has a good lead out and is always near the front at the end. So I am sitting at the back on his wheel just waiting. When my friend and teammate yells Jesse move up. So, I didn’t listen to my instincts and moved up on the inside. Just as I did that Jan moved up on the outside. So I backed off and went around the back of the field and jumped towards Jan. Right before I got to him 2 other riders slid over onto his wheel. So now I am 4th. Going into the 2nd to last corner I lost 2 places going into the last corner the rest of the riders slid left and I was in the gutter at the back. So I took 10th in the field and 15th overall. It was a great race and the best result I have ever had in February. I am getting really strong and am really excited for this season.



Thank you all for your prayers



J-Dogg