Valley of the Sun Stage Race

Last weekend, I was in Arizona! It was beautiful weather; upper 70's and just great weather down there. The 3-day stage race started with a time trial. It was 13 miles...I manage to finish with a 9th place result with a time of 34:20 in the 13- mile course. My teammates: Eamon, Andrew, and Torey went 1-2-3!! The next day was the Road Race. It was mostly flat. It was 57 miles long and I got in a break literally 2 km into the race. I eventually got caught , got in another break and more...by the end of the race, I had been away for about 45 of the 57 miles!! Also, with 1.5 laps of the 3.5 lap race, Torey got away and soloed to the line! It came down to a sprint and Eamon got that...I cramped up pretty bad with 2 km left in the race, but I definitely got in a great workout!

The last day of the stage race was the criterium, which means it's my day to win! Except there was one guy in the way: Cory Williams. He's the current National criterium champion and I have been waiting for this moment for a while now. We started ur 30 minute race, both of stayed in the group and whenever attacks would go, somebody would follow...it was clear that people wanted a field sprint. With one lap to go, we started our leadout...got through all the turns...2 more turns left until the finish and it slows up when Torey is still on the front trying to drive the pace. Unfortuanatly, it wasn't fast enough and so Erik Volotzky attacked going into the last 2 quick turns...I was too far back (8th or so). I gt out of the last turn, ansd started my sprint...I caught some guys, but 2 guys were far enough ahead ( Eamon OLucs (my teammate) and Ryan Gadow (SJBC). With 1st and 2nd taken...it was between Cory and I for 3ed. We both sprinted...he started coming around me at the last second and bam!! Bike throw!! I thought I had 3rd and beat Cory, but wasn't 100%...I eventaully saw results and noticed I did in fact finish 3rd! I still haven't seen a photo finish of in the bike throw, but I'm sure it was very close!!

Thanks for reading
James LaBerge

Cherry Pie Criterium

Yesterday was my 1st race of the year in Napa. It was a great day for the team! In the juniors race I sat in the whole race, moved up to the front in the closing laps and started my sprint, but when I started my sprint my chain fell off! I got it back on right away, but by that time it was too late. I eneded up finishing 5th. Specialized went 1-2-3-5!! :)

My next race of the day was the pro/1/2 race. There was a good 70 guys or so, and it was pretty fast with the wind picking up in the later part of the day. A break of about 10 got up the road and with about 12 laps left in the race, I followed an attack and only one other guy followed me. So, it was a group of 3 of us trying to get away from the pack, but chasing the group of about 10 up the road. We got halfway across the gap and I was dead...my heart rate was up to 195 bpm! One of the guys in my break sat on because he had a teammate up the road. Just after that, I blew up, got caught, and went to the back of the field. As I was getting reeled back in from the pack, I started getting some really bad cramps. I could only think of to drink drink drink (water) and it paid off. I got better as the race continued on, and was ready for the sprint (the break of 10 or so stayed away). I was sitting a little too far back, but started my sprint and finished about 5th in the field sprint; about 15-20th overall.

After the race, I found out one of my breakaway companions was Tim Farnham (Adageo Energy Pro Cycling), and a Yahoo! cycling team guy...both are pros. In the end, it was a good day and I'm looking forward to next weekend down in Arizona for Valley of the Sun Stage Race!!