2011 AZ State Crit Championship (Jr 17-18)

This year the state crit championships were spread out over two days as opposed to one in previous years. Even though the first day, Saturday, was cold and rainy many riders came out to compete.

The weather conditions proved to be too difficult for several of the riders, as nearly half of the starting field had been dropped by the end of the race.

Surprisingly, there were very few attacks in this race, and the ones that tried were not able to stay away for any length of time at all. In the end, the race came down to a sprint between Daniel and Owen Graves.

With Daniel narrowly taking the win for his second consecutive win at the AZ State Jr Crit Championship race. Congrats Daniel!

Video of Podium



2011 hungry Dog Crit

The 2011 Hungry Dog Crit was held on Sunday, March 27th. Click here for video of the race.

On the recomendation of his coach, Mike Kolin, Daniel decided to enter the Pro/1/2 race. Gaining experience at this faster pace with advanced tactics will help prepare Daniel for US Jr Nationals in June.

There were several attacks throughout the race; however, most were reeled back in within a lap, or two. The one notable exception was Jr Grabinger who managed to stay away for 10 - 12 minutes before being swallowed up by the pack around mid-race.

Daniel managed to stay in the front of the pack during most of the race and did his share of the work up front.

With 3 laps to go, Daniel breaks from the pack.

Daniel takes the win!

Click here for video of the race.

2011 San Tan Criterium

On Saturday, March 26th, Daniel raced in the San Tan Crit race in the Pro/1/2 category. There were 25 guys at the start line, but only 16 finished. The 1.1 mile course has several turns, yet it is still very fast. Approximately 30 minutes into the race, a group of 9 riders attacked and were able to distance themselves from the pack. The lead group organized within a lap, or two, and continued throughout the remainder of the race to put distance between themselves and the chase pack. Fortunately, Daniel was in the group of 9.

The weather was fantastic in spite of this gust of wind.

The breakway group eventually thinned out to 5 guys at the finish with Daniel capturing the 5th spot.

2011 Tucson Bicycle Classic

On Friday, March 18th, we traveled to Tucson to compete in the Tucson Bicycle Classic. This was Daniel's first Cat 2 race and he was a bit nervous.

The first stage, a time trial, is set on a course that has a few rollers and two fairly steep uphill climbs. Many riders choose to ride their road bikes because of the hills, but Daniel elected to use his TT bike instead. This proved to be a good decision, as Daniel found himself in 1st place by 1 second at the end of the day.

The second stage, a road race, is an 80 mile course consisting of 4 twenty mile loops. Early in the race there was a breakaway of 5 - 8 guys that held up until midway through the last lap. Unfortunately, Daniel and a few others worked hard to catch the break which left him without much left for the sprint finish. He did, however, get pack time for this stage, but ended up dropping to second in the GC due to the second place guy capturing a 6 second bonus by taking second place in the sprint.

The third stage was a circuit race that was marked by heavy winds and a fast pace. This race saw a successful breakway capture the win and enough time on the pack to win the GC and bump Daniel back to 9th place overall. All-in-all it was a successful weekend for Daniel and a great start to racing in the cat 2's.

2011 Callville Bay Classic

On February 24th, Danny and I, traveled to Las Vegas, NV, for the Callville Bay Classic stage race. Danny decided to enter the Men's Cat 3, rather than 17-18 juniors, after seeing Colin Joyce and Kyle Torres signed up in the the 3's.

The first stage, an up hill time trial of 3.8 kms, was marked by a heavy tailwind. In my opinion, a road bike would have had an advantage under normal conditions, but due to the wind, a TT bike might have been the better way to go. Unfortunately, we didn't bring Danny's TT bike.....this won't happen again.

After the dust settled on the TT stage, Danny found himself sitting in 3rd position (8m55s) behind Kyle (8m 30s) and Colin (8m 37s).

By the next day, the weather had turned bad and it was raining hard. The combination of hills, wind, cold and rain proved to be difficult as only 52 of the 64 riders who had competed the day before were to finish. Several attacks were made during the race, but the peleton easily pulled them back in until approximately 15 miles from the finish. At which point, Danny attacked and was able to bridge up to a lone rider that he hadn't known was out there. The two of them worked together to pull off a successful break that placed Danny 32 s in front of Nick Pollack and 1m 05s in front of Colin in the GC.

Stage 3, the crit, was fast, but dry. Danny just needed to stay safe and finish with the pack in order to retain his over-all lead. Fortunately, he did and Danny was able to bring home the Men's Cat 3 over-all GC victory. Congrats Danny!

2011 Sun Devil Crit

Pics and video of the Men's Cat 3 race. Daniel took 3rd after holding off the pack for nearly 30 minutes on a solo break. Click on the following link for the full race video:
http://vimeo.com/20217783

Daniel's first ride on the new Trek Speed Concept TT Bike