4s:
So this was the first race of the season for me and being 2 to-10s away from an upgrade, my hopes were for a solid run and good placing. As always, tried to stay near the front to keep away from the bunching up/springting out of every corner. Well, in one of my moves near the first left-hander I went into the ditch and picked up some dirt/water ... and ate it on the left-hander. Not even sure how the fall went down (ended up with my right side of the handlebar scratched up), I worried about getting nailed by more riders. Thankfully I was off to the right a bit and wasn't in the way. I got my lap and got back into the action. The ref started me towards the back end of the 100-strong pack, and I spent the next 3 laps moving up. However,... there was a crash in front of me and I was now forced to bunny-hop onto the grass and chase again. So long story short, I didn't have much left for the sprint, sat up and tried to save some energy for the 35+ 4/5 race.
35+ 4/5:
These races are usually just a tad slower and cleaner. I like racing with the old farts :-) Ed was also partaking and both of us stayed top 20 throughout the race. With 2 to go we moved up a bit and held our positions around 10th-12th. With about 3/4 laps to go I was now on Ed's wheel, as he was taking nice smooth turns and had good umpf left over in his big ingun. We stayed in a good position throughout the last few turns and after the last turn the sprint started. We now were about 8th/9th and slowly moved forward. There was one guy off the front my about 2-3 bike lengths. Ed was moving forward slowly and with about 200m to go I went around and Ed started sucking my wheel. I was able to creep up past 3 more guys and with about 50 to go only had 2 in front of me. I was already celebrating and probably should have given it another go and see if I could pass one more guy (he ended getting 2nd in the earlier 4s race). Either way, walked away with a 3rd and Ed coming in for 7th.
Good times! Cantua/Dinuba are next!
http://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?permit=2009-272
So this was the first race of the season for me and being 2 to-10s away from an upgrade, my hopes were for a solid run and good placing. As always, tried to stay near the front to keep away from the bunching up/springting out of every corner. Well, in one of my moves near the first left-hander I went into the ditch and picked up some dirt/water ... and ate it on the left-hander. Not even sure how the fall went down (ended up with my right side of the handlebar scratched up), I worried about getting nailed by more riders. Thankfully I was off to the right a bit and wasn't in the way. I got my lap and got back into the action. The ref started me towards the back end of the 100-strong pack, and I spent the next 3 laps moving up. However,... there was a crash in front of me and I was now forced to bunny-hop onto the grass and chase again. So long story short, I didn't have much left for the sprint, sat up and tried to save some energy for the 35+ 4/5 race.
35+ 4/5:
These races are usually just a tad slower and cleaner. I like racing with the old farts :-) Ed was also partaking and both of us stayed top 20 throughout the race. With 2 to go we moved up a bit and held our positions around 10th-12th. With about 3/4 laps to go I was now on Ed's wheel, as he was taking nice smooth turns and had good umpf left over in his big ingun. We stayed in a good position throughout the last few turns and after the last turn the sprint started. We now were about 8th/9th and slowly moved forward. There was one guy off the front my about 2-3 bike lengths. Ed was moving forward slowly and with about 200m to go I went around and Ed started sucking my wheel. I was able to creep up past 3 more guys and with about 50 to go only had 2 in front of me. I was already celebrating and probably should have given it another go and see if I could pass one more guy (he ended getting 2nd in the earlier 4s race). Either way, walked away with a 3rd and Ed coming in for 7th.
Good times! Cantua/Dinuba are next!
http://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?permit=2009-272
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