Sunday, March 23, 2014

Barry Roubaix 2014

We returned to Barry Roubaix for a second time to take part in this epic gravel road race. About 3500 people raced total in the 24, 36, and 62 mile categories, I raced the 24 miler and my sister raced the 36 miler. I went off in wave 14 and unfortunately I did not start with the men but instead started with the women and kids. I had a great start and led out the entire wave by 50 yards, after a mile or two I went onto the gravel and started to catch up to the next wave. I rode solo and pushed as hard as I could up every numerous monster climb, and kept on hammering. Right before I turned onto the last 2 mile pavement stretch before the finish, the top 5 rider from the 36 mile category caught up to me and I drafted them all the way home. I won my junior category and got a $250 scholarship and a bunch of great prizes. I also was 2nd overall out of 489 finishers, to my dismay the leader was 1.16.12 and I was 1.16.17, I was only 5 seconds out of the overall win! It was an amazing race and I got a huge amount of prizes. My sister Emma Swartz won the womens 36 mile overall which was fantastic as well!