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02-25-07, 03:57 PM
First road race of the season, my first ever road race(only done 2 crits). Course was a 7 mile circuit small rolling hills nothing hard 3 laps for the Cat 5. Yellow line rule was in affect and the motorcycle following the field was enforcing it hard sending people to the back if they crossed over intentionally. Course had some bad railroad tracks that someone flatted on every lap. Weather was a nice ~50F.
Raced Cat 5 with one teamate, only had ~20 minutes to warm up luckely the first lap was really tame. Field was 40+ riders with a lot of guys from pfeiffer U some of which I knew.
First lap heads off, I started towards the back not being to nervious about moving up the field having 22 miles to do it. Within the first mile a guy I know from pfeiffer goes down hard(later to find out he broke a bone in his face and needed some stiches) I know it's bad but I see avoiding this crash as a way to move up the field so I swing out the yellow line to avoid the crash and move up to the first 1/3rd of the field. After the first lap the pace moves up to a mild 22mph I'm feeling great and trying to move up the field to throw myself off the front and see who wants to go with me, easier said then done I realize moving up the field with the yellow line rule is nearly impossible so I sat in the middle. 3rd lap a couple of guys go off the front but the field chases hard and are caught in less than a minute. A few miles to go and another guy from pfeiffer tries to pass on the inside and move up in position, he runs out fo road and I see him doing a flip in the grass. 2 miles to go people really start working on the run-in and 1k from the line some people start a sprint(I'm not sure what they were thinking) I start to move up the field 500m from the line as early sprinters die out, then 300m more sprinters start going. And then the cycling god opened up my line for the finish and I open it up 150m from the line to take 4th(thought I had taken 3rd but threw my bike a little late).
So about 1/2 wheel out of some sweet medal bling and I'm in the running for the series just got to go back the next two weekends.
Pretty happy about my first ever RR.
Raced Cat 5 with one teamate, only had ~20 minutes to warm up luckely the first lap was really tame. Field was 40+ riders with a lot of guys from pfeiffer U some of which I knew.
First lap heads off, I started towards the back not being to nervious about moving up the field having 22 miles to do it. Within the first mile a guy I know from pfeiffer goes down hard(later to find out he broke a bone in his face and needed some stiches) I know it's bad but I see avoiding this crash as a way to move up the field so I swing out the yellow line to avoid the crash and move up to the first 1/3rd of the field. After the first lap the pace moves up to a mild 22mph I'm feeling great and trying to move up the field to throw myself off the front and see who wants to go with me, easier said then done I realize moving up the field with the yellow line rule is nearly impossible so I sat in the middle. 3rd lap a couple of guys go off the front but the field chases hard and are caught in less than a minute. A few miles to go and another guy from pfeiffer tries to pass on the inside and move up in position, he runs out fo road and I see him doing a flip in the grass. 2 miles to go people really start working on the run-in and 1k from the line some people start a sprint(I'm not sure what they were thinking) I start to move up the field 500m from the line as early sprinters die out, then 300m more sprinters start going. And then the cycling god opened up my line for the finish and I open it up 150m from the line to take 4th(thought I had taken 3rd but threw my bike a little late).
So about 1/2 wheel out of some sweet medal bling and I'm in the running for the series just got to go back the next two weekends.
Pretty happy about my first ever RR.