May 1, 2005
First race of the year... the year that hasn't been going as planned. I've been training, but not as much as I'd hoped. So this is a test of my legs as much as anything else. It's also the first race with the new team.
First race of the year... the year that hasn't been going as planned. I've been training, but not as much as I'd hoped. So this is a test of my legs as much as anything else. It's also the first race with the new team.
Snakebite has quite a few riders show. Pat raced in the A's. We had Todd, Brett, Jason, Jason, Brian, Tom, Jeff, Geoff and myself in the B race. 9 guys, we should be able to do something with that. We decided that Brett and I would work for the team, and Tom and Jason would save themselves for the finish.
Racing!
Away we go, and on the first lap, Brett rolls off the front alone. I sit about 5th wheel, waiting for someone to bridge up. My plan was to bridge with them, and make a decent size break... nothing happened. Someone said "If he can hold the field off for 40 miles, he deserves to win".
Brett held them off for most of the first lap. He was brought back just before the turn onto Ira road. So... when one attack is brought back, someone else should go. So as we made the turn, I kicked it over the short rise and got a gap. I pushed it past the school and through the start finish and looked back at a pretty large gap. Now what! I figured it was time to back off a little, cause I couldn't keep this effort up for 30 some miles. So I backed it down and settled in, again hoping someone would bridge up... again no one was interested, and I stayed off the front for the second lap.
Third and fourth lap were pretty uneventful. A couple of breaks went without us, so we brought them back. FOr the most part, everyone was waiting for the final lap.
On the bell lap, I figured I would make it hard during the technical part. So I led the field hard through the start finish, and pushed it through back side. woof! After the sharp turn, I sat up and faded back to 10th or 15th wheel. Brett was there, and told me not to get further back. So I dug in to hold a position and recover.
On River, Brett was talking about bringing Jeff up for the sprint. He'd take the turn onto Ira, and keep the pace going. Then I'd go, then Jeff could make it to the line. Planning on the road, we got ourselves kind of organized and made ready for the turn.
We made the turn on the outside, and Brett went pretty hard. The problem was the field did a weird roll, and we got separated from Brett. On the rise Brett pushed, and got a small gapoff the front... but just dangled there. As we made our way past the school, he was still 10 meters ahead going no where. I was about fifth wheel again. Not seeing anything good coming out of this, I looked back and saw I had at least one SBR jersey on my wheel. So, I gave a short signal, and jumped hard for the lead out!
Turns out I had 2 on my wheel. As we came by Brett, he was able to jump on also, so we had a train of 4 pulling the field along. I pulled off with about 200 meters to go... Yelling for Jason to finish the job. In the end Tom was 2nd, Brett hung on for third and Jason got 5th. I rolled in at the back of the field totally cooked...
Overall a good days work, with a result for the team.
{moscomment}
Racing!
Away we go, and on the first lap, Brett rolls off the front alone. I sit about 5th wheel, waiting for someone to bridge up. My plan was to bridge with them, and make a decent size break... nothing happened. Someone said "If he can hold the field off for 40 miles, he deserves to win".
Brett held them off for most of the first lap. He was brought back just before the turn onto Ira road. So... when one attack is brought back, someone else should go. So as we made the turn, I kicked it over the short rise and got a gap. I pushed it past the school and through the start finish and looked back at a pretty large gap. Now what! I figured it was time to back off a little, cause I couldn't keep this effort up for 30 some miles. So I backed it down and settled in, again hoping someone would bridge up... again no one was interested, and I stayed off the front for the second lap.
Third and fourth lap were pretty uneventful. A couple of breaks went without us, so we brought them back. FOr the most part, everyone was waiting for the final lap.
On the bell lap, I figured I would make it hard during the technical part. So I led the field hard through the start finish, and pushed it through back side. woof! After the sharp turn, I sat up and faded back to 10th or 15th wheel. Brett was there, and told me not to get further back. So I dug in to hold a position and recover.
On River, Brett was talking about bringing Jeff up for the sprint. He'd take the turn onto Ira, and keep the pace going. Then I'd go, then Jeff could make it to the line. Planning on the road, we got ourselves kind of organized and made ready for the turn.
We made the turn on the outside, and Brett went pretty hard. The problem was the field did a weird roll, and we got separated from Brett. On the rise Brett pushed, and got a small gapoff the front... but just dangled there. As we made our way past the school, he was still 10 meters ahead going no where. I was about fifth wheel again. Not seeing anything good coming out of this, I looked back and saw I had at least one SBR jersey on my wheel. So, I gave a short signal, and jumped hard for the lead out!
Turns out I had 2 on my wheel. As we came by Brett, he was able to jump on also, so we had a train of 4 pulling the field along. I pulled off with about 200 meters to go... Yelling for Jason to finish the job. In the end Tom was 2nd, Brett hung on for third and Jason got 5th. I rolled in at the back of the field totally cooked...
Overall a good days work, with a result for the team.
{moscomment}
