UmneyDurak

First big thanks to BigSean for giving me a ride there.
Race felt more like a recovery ride, followed by a short suffer fest, followed by descent that left you wondering why you are smelling a burnt scent.

P.S. To a guy from ActiveFitness team who passed entire group completely in the other lane: Center line rule, it's not just a suggest.

banduhbiker

Summary of my (cat 5) race.

Easy going till Cantelow. Got dropped right after the feed zone (need to work on the uphill accelerations). Met up with a group of 3 others until the next time we went over the hill. Dropped them in the feed zone and met up with another guy. Hauled balls to the line (not quite sure why, it wasnt like we were in contention for places or anything, I guess it seemed like the thing to do in a race) . Kicked it up with 1k to go and beat him.

Pretty fun race. It was my first road race. Didn't finish absolutely last, and didn't crash. Suppose it only gets better from here?

BigSean

My race began easy enough too. But when we came out of the feed zone things picked up a bit. The climb really split up the field. I came over the top in 8th, problem was the first 7 were a couple hundred yards ahead. I was joined by one other rider and we tried to bridge up to the lead group. Didnt make it, closest we got was about 60 yards. We sat up as 4 others were closing in on us, figuring we could all work together to catch up. Didnt happen. The six of us stayed together till the climb. We broke up at the climb. I finished either 11th or 12th. All in all it was a good race.

I did the Masters 35+ cat 5

bayareawheeler

fun race. E3 70miles 2700ft of climbing or so

took a flyer trying to chase down a break and went off the front for half a lap. Went over the climb at my own pace and then sat up as i realized i was not making progress towards the break.

Worked in the pack and enjoyed the race, two team-mates i started with were no where to be found so i focused on racing my own race.

Last time up the hill I was seeing double but managed to hang on. Got near the front a bit early (5k or so) and started covering attacks, allowed myself to get pushed back nearer the finish. Held my position and did the best I could do being completely boxed in going into the final 200 meters.

tricky finish, would have been much better (for me haha) if we had the complete road.

finished 13

Red Rider

Briefly I debated riding to the start, a mere 11 miles up the road from my house. Decided to conserve that energy and I'm glad I did. Women's CAT4, until the feed zone and hill I was sitting in comfortably, the pace was slower than I expected, and the weather cooperated by not skyrocketing to 100+ degrees before 10 a.m.

The pack broke up on the hill, as expected. Once over 5 women from my group caught up to me and we worked together until the feed zone. After that I was on my own until the last 5 miles, where I caught one of the Davis girls who was in our small group, and we worked until the final sprint, and she beat me by some minuscule amount.

I don't know how I finished b/c we left before our results were in. It was a great day for a race.

LorenzoNF

I hope it just gets better. I have to work on my climbing too. Good work in the paceline, btw.

LorenzoNF

I'm in the green jersey, 25 miles done, 25 miles to go.

Racer Ex 

I didn't lie about that climb, did I?

Good job to all. No tacks on the road this year I take it...'05 someone dropped a bucketful on the hill.

banduhbiker

There were a rather ridiculous amount of people on the side of the road, fixing tires, or walking back to the feed zone though. I think the road was a little rough.

Red Rider

Cantelow is essentially a paved cowpath. Because of frequent washouts and slides the county can't justify having an engineer redeign it. A friend and fellow cyclist, who works for the county road dept., had the course swept on Friday for the race.

I agree with the seemingly large number of flats -- but I saw quite a few in places other than the feed zone and hill. Is it too early for goatheds?

BigSean

I had no problems. The road conditions were fine. I think some people run their tires too long. I rode Mich Pro Race 3's which have a reputation for flatting, and I had no problem. I saw alot of flats, but cant comment on why or what happened. I also saw a crash on a straight away incline. All because, well I have no idea. Sheer stupidity I suppose.

BigSean

No you didnt. I was amazed that I remained so close to the front considering my total lack of fitness. had I been doing what I should have been for the past 2 months I could have easily been top 5. Also, since my last road race I was off the back and a DNF, Im pretty happy about this race.

I enjoyed this race. Just wish the decent was longer and actually technical. I found it far to easy and short.

Val23708

that descent always freaks me out b/c there is gravel everywhere... almost hit some wild turkeys on the way down last time i rode it too

currand

Wild Turkey always leads to bad things for me too...