Matt Tomb's first road race

Saturday, August 11 I raced in my first road bike race. I raced in the Mansfield Campus Criterium race. It was an awesome day for racing. Although not too many riders came out to the race, it was still a fun day.

I was feeling a little nervous about the race because a few of the corners on it were pretty sharp. After pre-riding it a dozen times I lined up on the line feeling pretty good. After everybody wished each other good luck we were off.

I went off the front at the start, not really knowing what I was doing. It only stayed that way for about a lap then the lead pack caught me and Josh Beals gave me a quick word of advice. He told me to try to stay out of the wind. But I wasn't able to keep with the lead pack. They were just too fast. I was just able to keep them in sight on the long downhill. Slowly they started getting farther and farther ahead. I would see Tom every lap and he would tell me that they weren't that far ahead and that I could catch them. This just made me work a little bit harder.

I never could quite catch then but I was able to finish 4th over all and 1st in my age group. Josh was the winner of the B-race, only winning by 5/100ths of a second. I had a lot of fun at this race, it was the most fun race that I’ve ever done. I really hope to do it again next year.

- Matt Tomb