All in all, I thought the Masters 4/5 race was tame and well behaved. The packed move along with minor slowing, many attempted breaks, a few were sustained but eventually all breaks were reeled in.
Lap 1: Jamie and I were riding mid pack in close proximity, we were successfully moving to the most efficient positions in the pack. Hugh was riding very well ahead of us, toward the front. Three quarters of the way through the lap Jamie and I found ourselves working up the messy right side, at this point I heard to unmistakable sound of a flat I looked down and noticed it was Jamie’s rear wheel. Jamie did a commendable job of controlling his bike with little to no disruption. I worked my way up to inform Hugh of Jamie’s misfortune to which he replied, “and now there are 2.” I found this a bit comical in light of the fact that a few of the larger teams had several riders in the pack.
Lap 2: I continued to sit in and observe how the pack responded break away attempts etc.
Lap 3: Started to move around the pack back to front side to side looking for efficient lines. At the very end of lap 3 we went neutral to let the juniors finish their race, they were very impressive on the hill sprint.
Lap 4: Immediate challenge was transitioning from neutral to a last lap situation, I moved to the front in the event that riders on the front attacked once the juniors cleared, fortunately we moved rapidly past the juniors in an orderly fashion. (credit to the OBRA staff as this could have been a mess).
In my mind it was now time to race. As we approached Lee road I was prepared for an attack which did not develop. I then soft pedaled until we approached the dam. A long paced line formed to the right side of the bridge, I slipped onto the left side of the pace line and moved straight to the front with minimal effort. I got my desired line through the left hand corner leading to the hill and started climbing, as I passed Hugh all I had was real estate in front of me. I then let the dogs off the porch and climbed as hard as I could. I slowed a bit and 3 riders caught me at the top. To sustain the gap we attempted to team up, but it didn’t happen. I noticed the 2 disinterested riders were on the same team, I suspected team tactics, I called them a name or two and moved on. After the race they told me they were too tired to do a pace line.
As the larger group caught us I regrouped with Hugh, recovered for a few minutes, observed a few more pointless attaches, and decided that I would throw down one more effort which I new would be pointless but I wanted to tire the group a bit more. So, from about number 5 position I laid down a sprint. Again Hugh joined me after things settled down. So, picture this, a double pace line moving at race pace with Hugh and I on the front and absolutely no one stepping up. Hugh looked at me and said something like, “I don’t think there is a worse place we could be right now, to which I responded, “you know I was thinking the same thing.” With the help of a Portland Velo buddy Hugh I got off the front and recovered for a bit.
Given that all tactical attempts had failed thus far, I stopped thinking about what could happen and started preparing for the up hill sprint which came sooner than anticipated. At the base of the hill I was boxed in, so I took the right side. As I started to wind up for my final effort, I was nearly pushed into the guard rail. This was predictable but an expectable risk as once I cleared this guy I had a clear path to the line. I sprinted the remainder of the hill and finished 5th.
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