May 27th, 2007 by John Wyant
Forcast said overcast, however very sunny and warm/hot on this Sunday morning. I showed up to this event with about 4 1/2 hours of sleep and 5 Lbs. of Steak, seafood and after dinner drinks from the night before. We arrived, promply registered and were egar to warm up to see how things felt.. The course was super flat and very fast, with one very small grade on the last 90 leading to the finish straight. The first warmup lap I could feel all the food churning in my gut.. I figured if I chucked now, and got it over with, I might feel alot better.. after about 4 practice laps, I was the last to roll to the starting line and squeezed into the front, field was about 20?... The official blew the whistle and it seemed like a full 30mph sprint from the start.. After about half a lap thinks quicly slowed back down to around 25mph or so.. I figured I should not have even shown up today, however I was there and wanted to make the best of it, so I sat in and took no pulls.. There were around 3 or 4 primes offered however todays race goal was to be a contender or go for the overall win, (I just didnt want to get dropped from the main group after last nights party) The prime breakaways were fast, and could have easily stayed away after the prime sprints, so the main goal was not to contend any primes rather just keep drafting the 4 guys who were going for it so if they did decide to keep going, I would not have to bridge up to them.. Well they never did stay away after the prime sprint, so that was a waste of energy, but I still felt it was a good "insurance" move.. the last lap was fast, as expected, and the group started sprinting way to early, so I sat in and knew if I were to chase, they would surely grab my wheel, ther was a Jr. Cat. 3 Marshal Hadley, that was able to be in this race because he was a Jr., he pounded the pace for most of the race and I could tell he was a strong rider, He let another rider in front of him and I figured he would just wait until the last second to pass him, Marshal gave him a 20 yard or so lead and took off, I stayed right on his wheel in hopes to have him give me an unintentional lead out, wich he did, We were a little off on the timing and lost by a couple bike lengths and I lost 2nd by 1/2 of a wheel.. (I hate it when that happens!!!) With the day starting the way it did I was satisfied just finishing, let alone finishing 3rd.. Finishing 1/2 wheel behind a strong Cat. 3 Jr. wasnt so bad, the winner had a tattoo of a road bike on his forarm, I thought that was kind of hardcore..LOL
P.S.> I ended up breaking my left foot Sunday night, NEVER FAILS!!!! I will most likely be out for 2-4 weeks, I dont know how I am going to hold up without riding or running, THIS SUCKS!!!