After few winter months of hard training in Santa Cruz where I logged both several thousand horizontal kilometers and vertical meters and a few Northern California local races my 2015 race season with H&R Block started in March at the San Dimas stage race.
At what is considered to be the true kick off to the race my hard work over the winter already started paying off. Consistently strong rides over the three stages landed me in 4th in the General Classification and as an added bonus I took home the white jersey of best young rider.
From there it was just a short drive and a week before racing again at the Redlands Bicycle Classic, the kickoff event of the NRC. With a strong field, prestigious reputation, and the addition this year of the Oak Glen mountain finish this was my first target of the year. Again I rode a consistent race including climbing Oak Glen with the big guns I had another strong 5th place GC finish.
After Redlands the team and I headed a few hours north to the Sea Otter Classic in the beautiful town of Monterey, racing on the famous Laguna Seca race track makes for a fun weekend. With good confidence coming from the first two races of the year I rode aggressively in these races and came out of the road race and circuit race riding breakaways to a 4th and second.
A longer drive and I was in New Mexico prior to the Tour of the Gila, my first UCI race of the year. Racing at altitude is challenging so I arrived a week early to Silver City to do my best to acclimate to the nearly 2,000m of base elevation. The race was earlier in the year in danger of being cancelled, I am glad it wasn’t however! My race was highlighted by a 5th place finish on the final Gila Monster stage, one of the longest and hardest road races in North America. I also moved into 7th on the GC and scored my first UCI points.
Originally this was going to be the end of my first racing block of the year, however I was given the opportunity to race the Pan American Championships in Leon Mexico with the National Team which I gladly accepted. The opportunity to score some more UCI points was calling and after narrowly missing out by finishing 7th in the under 23 time trial I rebounded well jumping into the Elite Mens road race and finishing 5th in one of the toughest races I have ever raced in. A good haul of UCI points that came along with this result was also a good step in qualifying Canada starting positions for U23 World Championships, one of my big goals of the year.
Finally home for a few weeks before the next block of racing, a bit of rest and then some hard training is on the agenda. Looking back on what has been my most successful season so far, I am extremely excited of what I have been able to achieve. With the support of Global Relay Bridge the Gap I have been able to prepare for 2015 in the best possible way and race to some satisfying results. Motivation is high for round two of the season as I strive for my first win of the year. I cannot thank all of the GRBTG team enough for putting me in this position!
