I arrived at 9 for the 9:40ish start of the cat 4 race. Being the first race of the season, I was less than organized. I found a half eaten cliff bar in my race bag from Cross season... it was not edible, in case you're curious... hard as a rock. Though there was a suggestion of soaking it my water bottle... I opted for throwing it in the can.
I'm still trying to sort out my HRM issues, as I dropped mine from the kitchen table and broke the display. Polar is doing me right with a repair, but it's still gone for 2 weeks. So I'm flying blind... no data for a data geek. It's fine... I get about 10-15 minutes warm-up before we need to line up.
We had Chris, Jason, Gary and myself. East side Ray was there also... effectively on the team cause we ride with him regularly, though not official. Our plan at the line was... uh, nothing. All I knew was that Jason was not planning on any attacks, because he's "not fit yet". Cool by me, since it's really the first race to test the legs. Off we go.
They had moved the finish to the back side of the course to make the race safer. It totally change the race feel, as now everything happens on the little climb. Personally, I'm happy with the change. No need to dive into the last set of corners for the finish... I think they also did away with primes to make it safer also.
So pretty much straight away, Ray goes off the front. I guess that's his warm up. It's also the way the race went for the almost the whole 15 laps. One or two guys would roll off the front... it's not like anyone really chased. We just kind of waited until they came back.
With no primes, I mostly spent every lap viewing the finish, and trying different things. Stayed to the right... watch the field. I stayed near the front the whole race, and was pretty relaxed throughout. I gave one attack up the hill to see if anything happened... to make some legs hurt, and to basically see if I could annoy anyone. I gave another a bit later, where I pretty much just rolled off the front. It wasn't even intentional...
With 3 to go, a rather large group got away. The field accelerated, and I just stuck it near the front, letting StarkVelo pull it back together.
With two to go, Ray and a few others were still away. Jason had talked to Chris about having Chris do the work for him to get to the finish. Chris did a stellar job of bringing the two back on the last lap, then leading it up to the hill where the finish was.
Over the first rise, the field compacted, when Wes from Orrville took off up the left side. Chris led Jason up the right, with me a few wheels back. I had a little tap of the brakes as someone was going back through the field, then I opened my sprint up right before the start of the final climb.
I was picking everyone up pretty quick, and called to Jason that I was coming up on his left. With only Wes ahead, I thought I'd make it... and nearly did as I missed by about a tire width. Neither of us were sure who had it on the line. I had a feeling I was second, but it was possible I made it.
Jason held on for third, and Ray came in fourth. Chris was also still in the top 10 after his work as was Gary. A good day for SBR. Next week, I plan to get better positioning going into the final, and open up the sprint a bit earlier.
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