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When a race goes on for more than 25 years, their has to be something special about it. Redlands Bicycle Classic is one of them. After I got the bad news about the sponsorship lost in Japan, I was now available for Redlands and was pretty excited to do it.
The stage race included an opening time trial in Big Bear Lake at 2060m of altitude, a road race of 195km, a criterium and a last road race of 160km. Put the some of the best teams of the country in the mix for a total of 191 riders and you have some world class road racing !
After a hectic month of March, racing on 5 different bikes after the misfortune in Florida, I finally got a new frame and flew to Quebec for a week where I put on some good trainning miles before heading west to California for the classic. Looking back on that week, it is easy for me to say that I trained a bit too much during those days as I was pretty tired and the race has'nt started yet. In those situations, all someone can do is be optimistic, rest as much as possible and do their best anyway, which I did. I spent my first two days in Passadena with Sergio Hernandez. He showed me some trainning roads and the scenery was fantastic. The next day, we drove to Redlands where I met the rest of the team. As an amateur team, I got to say, we had a killer squad: Freddie Rodriguez, Kirk Carlsen, Sergio Hernandez, Julio Mollinedo, Cesar Grajales, Cody Oreilly and myself.
The day of truth had come and we wake up early enough to drive to Big Bear and ride the TT course before the road closes. Unfortunately, the road were already closed when we arrive so we have to settle with home trainers and the bike path. Warming up, my legs were already tired and I was feeling no power. Soon enough, it was my time and my impressions were in line with my performance as I struggled right from the start of the TT. Technically, I rode ok, but my legs were absolute garbage and I was never able to push on the pedals as I normally do. I finished a disappointing 1:27 back on the winner Chad Haga.
The next day was the longest road race of the race with 120miles on the menu. It was unusually cold that morning and I started the race with knee warmers and long sleeve vest. The race started on time and so did the attacks. I was feeling pretty good, considering how I felt the day before and was confortable in top 15 of the field up the climbs and on the flat section. After only 15km of racing, I punctured my front wheel. Even tough the pace was quick (48,9km/h avg speed) when I flated, I did not panic and got a new wheel quick enough to get back in the caravan around car #15 (out of 25). In the next kilometers, I then start to struggle a bit as some drivers were opening enormous and unusual gaps between the cars. I moved up all the way to car #1 when the steeper climb started and again, without panicking I lost a couple of position going up the hill, but then riders started to get drop from the main field and gaps between the cars were terrible once again. With all that carnage, I ultimately lose contact from the caravan and later stopped at the feed zone frustrated about the incident. With 160+km left in the race, it was impossible to finish in the time limit.
Also out of the race, I went trainning in the afternoon with Julio Mollinedo and Emile Abraham who was directing the team. Once again, we enjoyed beautifull scenery in Redlands. The next day, all the team rode in the morning with our hosts to the coffee shop.
On sunday, their was a criterium on offer for Pro 1/2 riders out of the race or that did not participate in the Redlands Classic. I raced with Julio and Emile on the same course used the day before by the Classic. Active all race long, I did my best to break the field, but in the end, it look like it was going to be a field sprint. I was feeling good and was in top 10 comming for the bell. In the end, I moved up to 6th wheel before the last turn where I immediately launch my sprint. I was comming fast for the win, but I would have need an extra 20meters to win the sprint.
