Broad Street Cycles racer Fabian Merino is in his 2nd year of road racing, after blazing through his first season with great success. He’s headed down to Washington this weekend for the 20th Annual Mutual of Enumclaw Stage Race, so we thought we’d check in to see how he’s going so far this season, racing largely on his own in the ‘A’ fields against the most established local race teams.
Words by Fabian Merino:
Road racing this time seemed easy after having a great first year on a bicycle and going into racing without knowing much about it, but there is a lot to it.
Last year was the beginning of it for me, got my UCI license as a Cat 4, had never done a road race in my life and was nervous but weirdly confident after hearing a few of my friends from Broad Street Cycles telling me I was fast already. My intentions were to move up a category and get better at racing and I did. Gocusing on the race I watched live for the first time and wanting to win it even though it doesn’t suit me ended up working very well and I took my first cat 4 win at Bastion Square last summer.
March 22nd showed up and my tendonitis was gone a week before the first race that was happening this day. Caleb Pike isn’t my favorite course and even though I didn’t want to do it I went for it anyways. There was a full Russ Hay’s and Wheelers squad, the pace was fast and I managed to finish 3rd; that got me stoked on racing again a little bit.
More Caleb Pike for the Victoria Cycling League racers was happening next on April 22nd. This time a mix of Russ Hay’s, Victoria Wheelers and Trek Pro City guys were controlling the race. I was tired and had no idea what was happening during the race, I was shivering while riding at some points because of how cold I got. Ended up 12th.
Windsor park happened the Sunday next (May 3rd), really good pace coming from Pro City and the Wheelers. I noticed Curtis from Russ Hay’s was by himself trying to get away the whole race and EVERYBODY chased him back, it was hilarious. I made an attack with 2 laps to go and stayed away for just a lap after getting chased by Pro City, ended up 12th.
Latoria on May 6th was also very fun, pace was really fast and I got yelled at a lot for not “helping” chase back the break because you know, I had a full team with me? Racing on your own when there is full teams out there is brutal, it also makes it very interesting on who’s wheel I’m going to pick or if I’m just gonna try to be a badass and ride away from everybody. This race ended up in a sprint, Russ Hay’s took it, I ended 8th.
Newton Heights happened on May 13th. This is my favorite course, it’s so much fun. The pace for this race wasn’t what I was expecting. Not many attacks, usually there’s a few on the climb and splits everything up making it a huge party with 5 different groups per category but unfortunately that didn’t happen this time. I felt great the whole race, climbing was a lot easier and made me confident for the next races I will be doing, finished 8th.
Enumclaw Stage Race is next, I will let you know how that goes when I get back from the USA!
For a full breakdown of the Focus Cayo Fabian races, and an example of the crazy winter rides he’s put the Cayo through, check out his December ‘Rides’ post!
