Chesco Road Race, M45+. Four 13-mile laps on rolling terrain. The race had the distinction of being the official PA road race championship, although I doubt that had much effect on things. Still, there was a field of 40-50 strong riders. I had one team mate in the race - the one who's been riding away in the first lap in all the races he enters this year. Sure enough, he did the same this time around, and held the break the whole way. Got beat at the line by his sole break-mate, but since the winner was from MD, my team mate got to claim the state gold medal.
Meanwhile, my terrible pack handling skills (or rather, lack of confidence) had me sitting in the tail end of the pack for the first 2 1/2 laps. The yellow line rule pretty much made moving up a game of skill. Occasionally when the field strung out in a cross wind, I'd burn a small match and move up toward the front - only to find myself back in the same position a mile or two later, unable to hold the wheels I needed to hold to maintain position. I need to race more to work on those skills... In any case, I wasn't much help to my team mate - good thing he didn't need it. The last lap and a half, the race seemed to open up, and I was near the front most of the time, following small moves but otherwise not doing much. Toward the end of the third lap, I found myself off the front after a bit of a climb, and just for kicks kept it going for another mile or two to finish out the lap on my own. But I knew I couldn't hold it on my own, so I reabsorbed into the pack, and continued to surf wheels near the front during the last lap. Which put me in a decent position after the last turn going into the short steep hill 500m before the finish. Climbing is what I like best, so together with a few others I gained some separation from the pack, and managed a 6th place finish. Not too bad for a Cat4 in a strong field, definitely my best result of the year. Extra bonus points to my team mate, who smooth-talked the girl at the VIP beer stand into giving us VIP wristbands, good for some free beer. A fine way to spend the first half of the Fourth of July holiday.