Devil's Punchbowl Road Race

Yesterday the Southern California Velo juniors and myself raced the Devil's Punchbowl Road Race. When we started at 1:

15 the winds were really kicking up. We started neutral for about a mile until the first left turn. When we made it to the turn, some made the mistake of going right. Everyone finally went left and when down a short little bump. When we started the first false flat, the first attack went. I told our team to let him stay to let him cook out on the front. We eventually caught him earlier than expected because he sat up. The pace to the feed zone felt really unusual. We then made a right to the step climb with crosswinds.....it was tough!! When we started the steps, me and 2 other riders found ourselves in breakaway because of the pace that we were putting on the field. We then started the decent and then a quick right turn at the bottom. One of my breakaway companions almost slipped out at the turn because of the gravel. We got into a rhythm, then I heard someone calling my name. It was Annan. So I told the riders that were in the break to wait for him so we can have more help to get farther away. He latched on for a little bit but then couldn't hang on to the pace being put on. I kept telling him he has to try and hang on and that he can do it, but he just couldn't. We made it to the last turn,which was also a really bad turn. We kept rotating until we reached the line of cars. We all wanted to be in the back but we just couldn't. So the other 2 went way too early; I don't know what they were thinking but I knew I had to wait on my sprint because of a major headwind. I sat on their wheels until I felt I was ready to go. When I went, I had to go on the right side because if I went on the left I would've crossed the yellow line. I had plenty of room on the right to pass. As I was passing the two riders in our break, one of them started to sprint with me and then started bumping elbows with me. He started loosing control but I may have held him up because he was leaning on me. I held my line and kept my bike in control. I kept sprinting and took the win with my hands raised in the air. A special thanks to our team manager Dominic Galenti for a great bike fit the day before. And thank you to the Southern California Junior cycling team for all your support.