2013 FLORIDA STATE CHAMPION!

CAT 2 JUNIOR SPORT

1st Place Sam Connell, 2nd Place Tyler Mayer, 3rd Place Cody Burnett

Final race of the season was held at Santos Mountain Bike Park in Ocala - one of my favorites to race! I was really excited to end the season here and anxious to ride the course. The day of pre-ride I headed out with my teammates where we encountered a course filled with a lot of technical trails, as well as some flowy single track. I was feeling good after the pre-ride, buy understood that I needed to race hard, but safe. There were so many areas that could physical and mechanically take a rider down. Knowing that I had a significant first place lead going into this race, I knew I only needed to finish the race and I could maintain my first place win. But it's so hard to hold back when you are in a race. The race was going to be interesting for the other racers in my class because of the tie for second place. I knew I only needed to race smart and all would be good. 

Race day came quickly and the entire family was excited and ready to go. My brother was racing for a second place season finish in his class and like me he had a big gap that he just needed ride a nice, safe race. The weather was great and the atmosphere was charged! At the start line I was ready to get the hole shot...unfortunately, it didn't happen this race and I ended up third going into the woods. I stayed in 3rd for a while until the more technical sections where I decided it was best to make my move to the front of the pack. Knowing how potentially dangerous these technical sections were, I wanted to get in front and stay out of the way in case other racers had problems. It is these kind of areas that can cause a racer to lose precious time and maybe even a win. On the second lap I decided I needed to attack hard so that I could open an even bigger gap. My goal was to decrease my second lap time by one and a half minutes and I was able to do just that. This gave me an even more comfortable lead over 2nd place. Toward the third lap I started getting caught in race traffic in the technical sections which slowed down my lap time. I was able to come through scoring on mine final lap with an almost 3 minute gap over 2nd place. My goal this season was to push myself and I am proud to say that I did and I became the 2013 Florida State Champion - Cat 2 Juniors! 

My brother Morgan racing on the Tom Brown Trail

Once the race was over the real fun started at the GoneRiding 2013 Banquet! Dave and Terry Berger do a great job all season and the banquet was icing on top of the cake! We all had a great time hanging out and cheering on the racers as they received their racing awards. I was really surprised when I also received the Most Improved Junior award. Team Bents made a phenomenal showing this year with multiple state champions and podium finishes, as well as the 1st Place Team Award for Team Bents Sleepers! 

I want to thank everyone that has given me so much support and encouragement! Especially my parents for their coaching and financial support, Bents Cycling & Fitness, Mose Howard and Dwayne Allgire, all of my sponsors: Bents Cycling & Fitness, Twin6, Rolf Wheels, SockGuy, Cycleography, RxEquipped, Beljum Budder and SpyOptics, and my Bents family. To everyone who supported me,

Me and Adam Cohen laying down the hammers on Tom Brown Trail

 gave me words of wisdom, and checked out my blog - a big sincere THANK YOU! Looking forward to next season!!!