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<p class="MsoNormal">My first Superweek race of the year was the Beverly Classic the night before.<span> </span>It was nice making the jump from perennial
spectator to participant, but I quickly made the jump back to spectator after
the first five laps of jostling for position.<span>
</span>Cory finished the race, Welch hung on for about half, and Daley
outlasted me as well.<span> </span>I’d like to thank
the guys from Beverly Bike and VeePak for getting me a callup to the line.<span> </span>From a cycling standpoint I don’t deserve to
be mentioned with Rashaan Bahati and Alex Candelario, but I guess my presence
in the race is indicative of what this race means to people in my neighborhood. I started racing after the inaugural edition of the race and made it my
goal to do this race someday.<span> </span>I know I’m
just one of many people in the neighborhood whose lives have been changed by
the presence of this event.<span> </span>But since I
was dropped, I went to Blue Island
looking for redemption. And it was my 23rd birthday!<span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span></span>The pace
was hot from the beginning.<span> </span>I was
inspired by my teammates, who took second place in both the 4’s and the 3’s
race earlier.<span> </span>I knew I wouldn’t be able
to match that feat in the P-1-2 race, and instead worked toward my modest goal
of finishing with the field.<span> </span>Each lap
was the exact same.<span> </span>During the two long
stretches of the rectangle we’d accelerate hard out of each corner, but slow
down for the short stretches.<span> </span>Lap after
lap I sprinted out of the two corners for 62 laps.<span> </span>I never felt under pressure, and wasn’t in
the red zone at all.<span> </span>Halfway through the
race, I decided to break from my usual routine of picking up position in every
corner to try and move up in huge chunks.<span>
</span>I drilled it out of turn 4, a few times, and was able to pass 15 to 20
guys at a time for a few laps, even though I had to go about 34 miles an hour
to do so.<span> </span>I’ve been desperately lacking
sprinting speed as of late, so it was a relief that I could do this at will,
even in a comparatively easy race.
<p class="MsoNormal"><span></span>As the race
wound down in the closing laps, I was actually able to make it up front for a
bit.<span> </span>With three to go, a Rock racing guy
and several others crashed hard in Turn 1, causing a slight hiccup in the field’s
progress.<span> </span>I picked up a few spots but
ended up getting folded over by people moving up on the inside on the
backstretch.<span> </span>During the final lap at
Proctor I couldn’t accelerate for anything.<span>
</span>This race was harder and longer, but nonetheless, out of the last turn I
was able to drill it and pick up many places over the apathetic riders at the
back who were just looking to finish.<span> </span>We
averaged 29 miles an hour and finished in a field sprint.<span> </span>I finished somewhere mid-field, but in the
lead group.<span> </span>Bahati took the sprint.<span> </span>I know mine is not the most impressive result
in the world, but you have to crawl before you can walk.<span> </span>My next goal is to try and attack.
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