I swear I'm not as bloated as I look in this photo.
First in this year's race reports coming up.
It was 29 degrees when they called us to the line--Benji and I talked for awhile and I think we both had the jitters. I saw Patrick and Aaron near the front, a few guys on Big Shark who I know from my junior days, and who both raced in the 1980s. We'd discussed putting the race into the gutter earlier in the week. I went up to the to talk to them, and soon enough the race started. The field was 75 plus guys.
It was fast at first. Maybe averaging in the high 20s for the first several miles. I stayed in the first 10 guys and took my pulls. Aaron and Patrick and, as I remember it, an endless series of random guys in yellow jackets made attacks. Aaron staged the first serious attack of the day, and stayed away for some time. Big Shark was a major presence on the front.
After we turned on to D I really started struggling with my breathing. For some reason, ever since Halloween I've been sick with one virus after another and Sunday was no exception. I mean, I just could not breathe, and I've never had that happen in a race. I decided to sit in.
I sat in for probably 7 miles, as sheltered as possible in the wind. Things really slowed down on DD. It was a stroll for some time. I decided to wind my way through the pack to the front near the turn onto the frontage road, as this is the only place where hills might make a selection. Took more turns with the guy who rides for Big Shark and who has a British accent (Jose?) and the group took it relatively easy on the climbs. I knew it would be a field sprint.
I'm built like a sprinter, and actually have a pretty good sprint, but for some reason I've never really tried to develop it. Maybe this has something to do with how incredibly scrawny I was as a teenager when I was cutting my teeth at cycling. I was much more of a climber, I was actually an OK climber. But I've done ok in field sprints before too. So I knew I needed to give it shot.
For the last 5k I tried to keep position, responding to every acceleration. Benji was up there too, riding the perfect race. The guy doesn't want to admit it, but he really does have talent and is developing into an excellent cyclist in the short time I've known him. Jan was up there, Aaron, Patrick, and some other folks I do not know because this is really the first year I've raced seriously in quite some time.
Patrick said "Seth, could you move to the left a bit?" I knew what they were doing. He was in the perfect position to give Aaron a leadout. 1K to go and the fun began. I was third wheel behind Aaron. 500m to go or so Patrick pulled over and Aaron began his sprint. I hung on for dear life, closing in on the school was on 3rd wheel, behind Jan I think, and at 300m I completely, completely exploded. My legs made an agonizing decision to completely fail. But, I have to admit, they have not experienced high end like that for years and years. I got swarmed. Big time. I just could not hold my position for even a short time.
I ended up 22nd. But I was happy with the day. It was great to race with friends and I was very happy to see Benji get 12th. Patrick and Aaron rode great races, with a perfect leadout and sprint the end. Jan won the race. And I got to see Tater and some of his crew from Iowa over the weekend. Its going to be a very fun year of racing. I really hope that I can get on a few podiums this year in Cat. 3 races.
