Durand road race recap

The morning started out a bit hectic after I realized my rear wheel was rubbing on the frame. Craig M tried to help me late last night, but we didn't have the tools to work on the carbon wheels. So we were off to the bike shop first thing this morning to see if I could get some preferential treatment. Eric at Anybody's had the tools and the knowhow to fix the wheel, but there was a problem, the wheel wasn't the issue. After some quick analysis, it was determined that a file had to be taken to the drop out?? It was now 9:30 and we had a 45 minute ride to Durand and I still needed to register and be on the line at 11:00. As it turned out, there was time to kill.

Recap: This is the second RR I have ever done, so it was decided that I would race the cat 5/cit and use it as a learning experience. Bob waived the flag and we were off. Everyone warned me to conserve as much energy and do as little work as possible. I was good with that notion and experimented with different positions throughout the group. It was a good way to get a feel of the strengths and weaknesses of the other riders. After the first big climb Aaron S. and I decided to test the field with a pretty hard effort, but nobody came with us, so we re-grouped and came through the finish line to head out for a second lap. This time the pace was picked up and guys were starting to take fliers off the front. I had a hard time not answering, which turned out to be the right move as we eventually brought them back together. About half way through the second lap, a pretty solid rider got away and we were not doing a very good job of working together to close the gap; and we were running out of pavement fast. Knowing it wasn't the smartest move, I decided to put my head down and go to work on the gap. When we came up on the leader, I pulled through really hard to make sure he couldn't get a wheel. However, six or so guys still had my tire as we made the final right turn and started heading to sprint. I looked for a wheel after the hard pull, but none seemed to be available, and I was left alone in the wind. I was pretty shelled at this point, but managed to pull out a fourth place finish inches behind the leaders. The fitness seemed to be there, but my road racing strategy needs a lot of work. I think Time Trials are in my future before anymore road races. Check out the Motion Based file here http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/player/view.mb?episodePk.pkValue=8030364

heading in for the sprint

Sitting comfortably on second wheel

Good times on the hills for sure!