On Saturday, March 9th, Frank Jr made the trip to Manhattan to race the Grant’s Tomb crit. It was only the 2nd time ever racing on the road bike and his first crit race. Frank was pretty excited no doubt. At the start line he lined up with all the junior categories ranging from 11-12 all the way to 17-18 with some pretty fast guys. Considering the race is only 35 minutes long it’s best to stay close to the front. Frank looked for an early break, but the attacks did not start happening until in the last few laps. As the older category tried to pull away Frank was able to bridge up to them. By that point in the race there was only half a lap to go until the sprint. Coming into the last turn, the rest of the pack caught back up and it came down to a massive field sprint. Frank was still able to come across the line first in his age class.
Quite a debut in crit and road racing for Frank and more to come of course this season. Frank will soon hit the dirt too and start the season full gas. Awesome day for our junior rider.
P.S Frank’s dad Frank O’Reilly Sr. also raced and took 9th place in the Masters 40+ category.
Roger@FinKraft
www.finkraftcoaching.com