A hard day of bike racing

After completing my first race of the day in Clermont, Florida, my dad and I got in the car and headed to Lakeland where I would be competing in a Pro,1,2 cycle cross race. The previous weekend I had been in Miami where I took second place in a Pro,1,2 cross race, so with my success still on my mind I got to the course where the first thing I saw was a 35 foot sugar sand drop-off with caution tape marking the route down.

Realizing that I would have to ride down this hill I started to wonder how I would get to the top. With this question on my mind I still had to get ready for the race. I changed into my Colavita cycling kit and shoes, now I was ready to pre-ride the course. I found the path leading to the top of the hill. It was about 500 feet long and covered in sugar sand. I knew I would be riding and running up this sandy beast. Once at the top I would throw myself back on my bike and then it was just a matter of slipping and sliding down the hill. At the bottom, I would go about 50 feet around to a 10 foot tall hill of the softest sand I think I have ever raced or ridden through. At this point I would dismount my bike and carry it over the hill. Once over the hill I would ride across the start line and head on to a bit of double track mountain biking ending with a small little mound. With a little bit of luck and some speed I could just make it over the mound and onto a dirt road where I would ride as fast as I could to a 180 turn and onto the single track mountain bike course which I do have to say was my favorite part of the course. It was a fast and winding route leading me around to a little more double track before going back to that wicked sugar sand run.

Getting round the pre-ride on my own was one thing. Racing other people around it was quite another. Standing on the start line with my back wheel dug in and ready to jump off the line I realized I had forgotten to put on my number. With just a minute or two before the race would start I ran back to the car and got it pinned on. Now back on the start line and ready to go the official gave us the whistle and we were off. The eventual winner of the race was Daren Downing and off the line he was going fast and I was on his wheel. We headed through the double track, over the mound, down the road to the single track, and back to some more double track before the sand run where I ended up getting dropped by Daren. Once off his wheel I started to feel the burn of my morning race, one by one the other racers started to pass me until I found myself in last place. This was not good but at least the only place left to go was up so slowly my legs started to open back up and I headed by one rider and then another until I was in fourth place. I held this position for two laps hoping all was doing better but going into the last four laps I started to blow and coming down the sugar sand drop I lost my balance falling off my bicycle. By sheer will I pulled myself up and out of the sand, believe me I was flat out tired and just could not hold onto fourth place. Once again I found myself being passed by riders –one, two, three – now I was in seventh place. My teammate, JP, was one of the riders to pass me and he finished in fourth. I held on and got seventh.

day 2 race one

So day 2 was the first day of racing but the race was not till 7:00p.m… So we started the day at about 8:00a.m. with breakfast and once that was out of the way we headed to the room to get are kits on and go for a easy ride. We headed for the mine were we would be starting the TT later on in the week. With about a tenth of a mile to go I had a flat, So we called back to the school where the adults were to have them bring me another wheel while they were on there way we found out Ty had a tube and co2 but he thought I had a glue on tire not a clincher so he had not said any thing about having the flat kit once we found that out we fixed the flat just in time to have the car show up with a now wheel. I chose to change the tire out anywise so that there would be no problem which was a good thing because I had split that open the tire. Now that I had a wheel we went to the mine, the mine is going to be quite the start for the tt. From there we headed back to town to look at the 400mm course for the night race when we got there they were already setting up the fences so figuring out were the course went was not hard. We road the course three or four time to get a feel for it with it starting out on a slight down hill and finished on a up hill. It looked like it should be good race. Back at the school we sat down to eat lunch and just wait for the race. With the time coming upon use to race we got in to are kits and headed for the race where they would be taking photos and doing a team presentation and then after that we would head for the start ramp. Finally the time had come to race and was up against a kid from B.C. Canada. 5.4.3.2.1. GO we were off and he had the jump on me with the crowed banging on the fences and screaming I started to pull him back I tucked down in to the aero bars kept going in the in end I did not cash him he got me by about a bike and half. When it was all said and done the guys on the team end up getting

AJ Meyer 2nd
Ty Magner 3rd
Marcos Rodriguez 9th
Will Willis 90th
Jimmy Page 138th
Andres Cano 139th
Team G.C. 2nd

P.S. Thanks every body for reading my blog and supporting my racing.

day 1 4:30 and 30,000 ft.

So today is the penultimate day the day before the race the travel day. The time now is 7:40 but the day started at 4:30 for Jimmy and me. My dad was already at the airport with the bike boxes and my mom was on the way home to get jimmy, me, and the rest of the bags. Before she could get home my dad was calling to say thing were going bad the flight was going to be late and we weren’t going to make the connecting flight in D.C... So my mom got home and we loaded up the bags and head to OIA. 15min later we were there jumping out of the car and grabbing bags to get checked. We started talking to the lady at the desk about how we were going to make it to Canada on time but thanks to the work of the lady my dad first talked to we were already on a different flight to Chicago and than to Canada it was all going to workout and at that even better then it was suppose to we will end up getting to Canada 30min early. We made it though security with out any big problems just 2 little ones first the lady there went though Jimmy’s bag because he had a small set of allen keys and she needed to see what they were and second I forgot one of the bags at the x-ray table. I ran back and got the bag before TSA flipped out. From there we got to the boarding gate just in time. We gave them are tickets and got on the plane which is where I have been typing to you all from. Now though I am sitting at gate c4 in the Chicago airport waiting for the plain to arrive rocking to some music. The plane has arrived and we have boarded and taken off so I am typing to you all from about 30,000ft again. I was very happy I was able to see the bags and bikes get loaded on the plane so I know they are going to the right place and they still look like they are in one piece other then that nothing has happened so for now I will sign out. Ok so I am back we are on the road and driving to Val D’or and have about 4hrs to go getting through customs went good and so did getting the bags. The biggest problem right now is everything is in French so we are having trouble reading a lot of stuff. Even with our lack of French we got on the road were we needed to be and were driving on one the most scenic roads I’ve been on but know we have hit some rain and its hard to see any thing at all. We have finely made it Val D`or and are head to the school for check in at this point I am going to leave for the night I will talk with you all again tomorrow.

Will Willis,