Summer Solstice - New Burlington

This was one on my best racing career finishes. Having not raced for two months due to personal motivational issues this victory was a real surprise. Hopefully this will set the tone for the rest of the season. Tons of kudos for my two teammates, Dr. Hammer J. Bonnell, and Director Sportiff W. Koehler!!!! Both worked to exhaustion to reel in two serious breaks. Especially the last break when Joe and two other riders worked the entire last lap to bring the break back to with in 200-meters.

The finally run in was fast and chaotic. My goal was to be on the inside of the last turn, position around 10th place. Lady luck seemed to be on my side that evening, bingo I can out of the turn in 10th. On top of that the field is strung out in a single pace line. Perfect! We are at the 200-meter mark and just flying up the rode.
We catch the two break away riders at 100-meter mark and go roaring past them. Bye-Bye! Then the right side opens up and I’m thinking, Dam I feel good better make my jump now! I jump and catch the leading rider and win the sprint by a half a wheel.

I raise my arm and look back and yell, “Here’s one for us seniors!”.


We had about 45 in our race and averaged over 26 mph, that’s smoking baby!

Gramps

I haven't ridden much in the rain, so I was super nervous with the wet roads. I decided that I hate my sunglasses in the rain. Maybe it's my inexperience with rain rides, or perhaps my sunglass just suck, but nobody else seemed to be having near as major sunglass issues as myself. That was basically the focus of my race.

I didn't know too many women in the field. I got off the front once or twice and was hoping someone would join me, but it didn't work. I tried to stay close to the front of the pack, but the sunglass issues were distracting me. It came down to a sprint at the finish, directly after a dark part in the woods in which I could not SEE (sunglass ON at that point - bad decision)and therefore lost my position. Made up some positions in the final sprint, then ran out of road. Great job Shari & Katherine with the 1-2-3's! Wendy, we missed you.

Aaron and I were probably the most active out of the bunch trying to get away from the Sunday stroll pace. I was able to get away with an I Pro guy and a breakaway guy. We had a good gap and IPro and I were working the pace, while breakaway sat on the whole time. Finally after about 3 rotations, and me staring at this dude to pull through, he says next time. By this time the peloton was closing in. That is the time Breakaway decides he wants to work after we have almost been caught, and Ipro and myself had slowed up. Aaron did a great job of sitting on the front and pulling in a lone rider that was off the front. This guy was so close to the pace car that it was questionable if he was getting a draft (the next day I watched the cat 5 race and the winner was right behind the pace car also....definately getting a draft all the way to the finish) The standard field sprint finish with 40 to 50 riders all over the road with no sort of organization.

The teams that were well represented even just sat in and waited for the finish. I think this is boring and even if I was using this race as a training ride, I would not really get a workout sitting on and sprinting for the finish, but apparently that is how you get results. I would rather work the race and finish last, but what do I know.

After the one hour rain delay, we got rolling. It was a pretty fast pace. I didn't do our jersey proud in a couple of corners I really botched up. Then I made a rookie mistake of misjudging the speed of another rider, thinking I could jump in front of her as an attack started to my left. My pedals clipped her wheel. I hope that is my one and only idiot move like that. Fortunately, she stayed up.

I did my share of the work this race, from driving a good pace to helping block when Kelly was up the road (that was kind of fun!). I then took a free ride on the wheel of the woman who got around me to bridge, and then apologized to her when she wanted me to finish the bridge--I guess she didn't realize I was the one who grabbed her wheel first. The rest of the field did eventually help her out, and then we were back together. I did my share of chasing down a couple of breaks. One of them, the asthma kicked in almost full gear, and having pulled the whole field up with me, I pulled towards the center line and motioned for the women to get around me. They did. I'm sure it didn't help that earlier that lap (3) I had fought for, and won, some sprint points. I caught the last wheel, which was my goal, and prayed for the pace to slow. For some reason, it did. Once again, I appreciated that other riders asked me if I was ok. Hopefully, I won't make them hear my attacks much longer, as I'm finally working with my family doc to control both the allergies and the asthma.

The rest of the race, I sat near the back of the pack as my breathing slowly came back under control. I was able to match the times the pace came up. That last stretch under the trees, just before the finish, I picked a line up the white line, where riders for some reason were leaving room as they crowded the yellow line. That allowed me to move up the field at a critical point. The sprint to the finish geared up, and I had enough legs to get sixth. It turned out everyone in front of me was 1-2-3 riders, so sixth it was.

Long wait for the storms to clear, then it was "hammer time" for 40 miles. A couple of very dangerous breaks got away and the peleton was not going to give up the chase, until two laps to go when it seemed like the guys that were interested in chasing had run out of steam. Knowing we had Todd with us, I had a strong incentive to bring it all together for a sprint finish, so I went to the front and started driving the pace again. A few guys joined in and we started to reel in the last break of 2. A couple of times I thought I was done, but the pace slowed long enough to recover and I was able to hold on to the back for a few minutes before picking my way to the front again. The break was caught very close to the finish and Todd sealed the deal. What a great feeling!

Todd said he could win this thing so Joe and I made sure all the breaks came back. The biggest threat of the day came when Zak Dieringer (Lake Effect) bridged up to an Advantage Benefits Group rider. They were out for nearly 14 miles. We made the capture just 200 meters from the finish. Todd took advantage and fired up his sprint for the win! Way to come through Todd. Joe did more than his share of the chasing today and deserves a lot of credit for this win.