I'm not really sure how these things work but im just gonna go with the flow and see how it turns out.
Hi my name is Justin Oien I'm 16 years old. I race bikes competitively, not motorcycles or bmx, but road bikes. The ones with gears and the ram horn handle bars. Yeah you know the ones, they take more space than provided on the road, the ones with the skin tight spandex, yeah I'm one of those people.
I did my first race in may of 2010 and let's just say that I thought I was better then I was, it was a big blow to my ego and I never wanted to touch the bike again. I remember seeing this girl in my race and thinking to myself if I get beat by a girl then I'm done, well I did get beat by her. Her name was Jennifer Valente, I later found out that she went on to win every event in junior track nat's, I've also seen her win Woman Pro races, so I wasn't that heart broken after finding that out.
But anyways I didn't want to race again until my little brother went into a race and dust get droped, so my competitive brotherly drive kicked in and I went into another race. I didn't really think of it at the time but I had been training , not really dedicated training ,but still training. I had bought a fixie and started riding it to school 8 miles both ways. My jump was developing becuase I would race cars from traffic light to traffic light, my spin was developing as well because of the bike being fixed. So I went into the racing thinking that I just don't want to get droped, and I didn't and so that was just a big encouragement.
My Dad started taking my brothers and I down to the weekly youth velodrome classes , we enjoyed them and we progressed from the beginning classes to the more advanced classes. I remember that when the classes ended for the winter I was told that if I trained over winter then I could come into the races the next year and be one of "those fast kids", and so I trained with the goal in mind.
A few weeks before the races started their was this SCNCA Junior camp I attended the camp wondering how I would stack up against these kids who have been racing for years. We would go on group rides and do mini races and I would be at the front end of the pack and so i left that camp feeling confident about the races to come.
The first race was A road race (Poor College Kids RR)A pretty flat out and back course in the Santa Barbra area. I stayed safe the hole race not doing much work and just sitting in, the finish came relatively fast but I was prepared I was blocked but then I saw a little opening and shot through so I was like 3rd wheel and then the sprint started and I just pedaled hard and I got across the line in third place! That was a bog improvement from getting 36th place. I was so happy, my dad even cried. I still had two races the next day but that finish gave me a new found confidence that would help me the next day. The next days races where crits, I did the cat 5 race in the pouring rain, but finished 5th . We went back to te hotel to dry our sopping wet cloths. My junior race was later in the day so I got warm and rested. We went to my race the weather seemed to have cleared up but their was a massive head wind in the long straight. As soon as the race started Doug Hall attacked and took everybody by suprise after about a lap I went to close the gap and get in the break with him. I caught him not knowing if I was going to be able to stay with it. I did end up being able to stay with him and won my first race.
That's when I got the idea about going to nationals and then found out that I had to be cat 3. There where slot of people who didn't believe I could do it in that shot of a time , but that only have me more reason to try harder and prove those people wrong. Yeah so I have made 3 and I'm half way to my cat 2 upgrade! How you like them apples!?!?
Yeah and so my team and I (San Diego Bicycle Club)are now on our way to Road nat's and track nat's. I'm really excited and also alitle afraid because people have high expectations for me and I don't way to let them down, I also have high expectations for myself and I'm my biggest critic and so we'll See how it goes. We just crossed into Arizona , I'm saying goodbye to amazing Southern California weather and hello to HOT and DRY Arizona weather. I don't know if anybody is acctually going to read this but thanks If you do(: Bye
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