After everyone thought Snelling 2011 would be a rainy windy mess, as usual the weather cleared up at the last minute making for a great day of racing.  I wasn’t sure how I would feel after missing three days of riding because of school, but I planned on doing everything i could to finish well.  The race started fairly fast as groups tried to get off the front, I jumped into anything that looked too dangerous.

I knew that with 14 riders, Cal Giant would have to be represented in anything for it to be successful.  On the back side of the course where there was a slight crosswind, a group started to slip off the front.  I bridged the gap and soon the 12 of us were working well together.  I felt strong so I did plenty of work to establish the break at the beginning.

We worked very well together, and by the last lap I was still feeling strong.  A couple guys had already spent some time solo off the front, so I was hoping I could get away on a steep roller.  On the last big roller I attacked, and split the group a bit.  Into the final straight and John Bennett, and a Garmin-Cervelo rider and I messed around a little attacking each other.  with 1K to go the Garmin-cervelo rider was on the front and I was on his wheel, thinking he had given up trying to get away and just lead us out.  Unfortunately he sat up with about 300 meters to go. As everyone bunched up and looked at each other, I started my sprint early.  I got a good gap, but just couldn’t quite hold it up the last little kick.  Bennett beat me by about half a wheel.

While it hurts to have been so close to my first P12 win, I am happy with how I rode.