Ryan Eastman
Mt. Tamalpais Hill Climb
Juniors 15-16
3rd place
We were all very excited for this race. It would be the last race of the season. So Tyler, Ethan and I went out the weekend before and rode the course to see where to attack and other tactics to use. The day finally came and I woke up early, so Ethan and I drove to Tyler’s and then got on our bikes and road from Fairfax up and over Mt. Tam to the start in Stinson Beach. The race started and before we would hit the climb we had to ride up Highway 1 for about 4 miles. We made that right-hand turn and we were now facing the base of the climb. It was basically a sprint from there, we were climbing at a very fast pace so there were not very many attacks, but there was a couple accelerations. I worked my way up to the front and I got there and started to ride a steady hard tempo so that nobody would want to attack. I was riding there for a long time and I noticed that the pace was getting a little hard on some others. So the road kicked up a bit and I attacked and flew u p the road. I knew this would be hard to follow, a few guys got across the gap. I created a break away of 6 guys including me and we dropped the rest of the field. I was super happy my chances of winning just increases by a lot and I was feeling good. We reached the top of the major climb that was around five, six miles of steady climbing. Now all that was left was the ridge that climbed up and then went down a bit and this repeated quite a few times. We hit the first one and it was tough and steep and the whole break made it up, we crested the top and rolled down. We gained some speed and real quick we hit the next little climbing and an attack was made, one guy chased it down and the others followed. It was difficult, we were all back together again and I don't know what happened I was finding my self drifting away from them. They got about 50 meters on me but I would not give up. They were now not getting any more distance on me. They rolled over the top and then went down and t hen a little later so did I. The next little climb was the longest and I new I could gain some ground I hit the climb and just put my head down and did not think about any thing else but each peddle stroke, didn't focus on the pain and I was riding back up to the pack. There was one small climb left before the finish and I was just hammering it. I caught the breakaway right before the little climb and Peter looked back and saw me, and I knew he was going to attack right then and sure enough he did. I just held the same pace and hammered it to the finish line and I got 3rd place. I was super happy with my result and my time 45:22.
Well this race concluded my first year racing, and it was the perfect race to do so. I am looking forward to getting a bit of rest in and I am especially looking forward to next season and where it will take me.
Ryan Eastman
Tyler Brandt
Mount Tam Hill Climb
4th Place Junior 17-18
The day started out good and ended well, but the middle involved some dead legs. I got up early and Ryan and Ethan drove over to my house and we went for a warm up over Tam. I could already tell that my legs were not feeling good, but you definitely do not want to admit that to yourself before a race. I just kept rolling along hoping that they would come around before the race. We got down to Stinson a bit slower than we would have hoped and that meant for a little bit of a rush of getting pre-race duties done. I made it to the line with plenty of time, but I couldn’t find Ryan or Ethan, but they both made it there on time and we were off. Ryan, Ethan and I had ridden the course the week before and we were all excited and prepared. There had not been many tough competitors pre-registered so we had thought about doing a tough pace along the flats in order to get a really good time. However, quite a few other strong riders had showed up so we decided to just sit in on the flats and take it easy. It was a good steady pace around 22 mph, I would have liked for them to go faster, but I wasn’t going to go on the front and waste myself, especially considering how my legs felt. We got near the hill and I made my way towards the front and started the hill up there. I soon realized that it was indeed true that my legs felt terrible and I was dying to hold onto the last wheel of the shattered front group. After a few miles of the climb I lost all contact and was left to fight it on my own. My legs felt horrible, but I just kept telling myself "Keep Fightin...keep fightin..." I was caught by Danimal (Daniel Tisdell) and I hung onto his wheel for a while. I was hoping that I could find my legs and catch some riders that would blow up from the front group. That did not happen and I gave it my all to the finish, but was definitely not happy about my result. I was more than 2 minutes slower than my time of last year! I was thoroughly disappointed, but I had a lot of fun descending down Panoramic back to Stinson. Ryan, Ethan, and I plus my father and his friend Jeff rode out in the general area of the Lighthouse. On the way out towards Pt. Reyes I was suffering horribly, but I eventually found some decent legs. Ryan and I raced up a couple hill with one leg and we made our way back to my house. We were even able to drill it for the last 8 miles and we made it back with 100 miles under our belts for the day.
-Tyler
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