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What Tim saw:
Category: E4
Result: Pack finish
Teammates: Wendy,German
Today's race was early (7AM start time). I arrived at the race around
6:30, registered and did a 10 minute warm-up on the course.
From the gun, the pace was fast and it was hard to move up. On the
first prime lap I was sitting 4th wheel following a three-person
train of third pillar dudes on the backside of the course. Coming
around the right sweeper, someone behind me jumped. I tried to grab
his wheel but was too slow and he had a good 5 meter gap in a matter
of seconds. I was second place for a one-person prime. Doh.
That effort was pretty hard so I went to the back and recovered.
After 5 minutes, I started to work my way back up to the front. With
5 laps to go, I was in great position - sitting top 10. Somehow, with
2 laps to go, I was back around 20th position. I knew I needed to
move up, but the pace was high and no free rides to the front
appeared. Going into the straight to start the last lap, I started to
drill it up the left side because I knew this was my last chance to
get in good position. As I was coming to the start-finish line, I was
squezed into the railing where the whole course shifts 2-3 feet to
the right. I grabbed lots of brake to avoid going into the barriers
and became pack fodder again. There was no way I was going to make up
30 positions on the last lap, so I accepted defeat and rolled in with
the pack for 40th.
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What German saw:
Category: E4
Result: 11th
Teammates: Wendy,Tim
Started the race with something on mind: "Being at the front most of the time", mission accomplished. Started the first 2 laps in 2nd place following a Peninsula Velo guy, then pulled a few times and went back to top 10 during most of the race, in some occasions felt into top 20th, but jumped back into top 10th position. Race was very smooth most of the time except for the 2nd and 3rd turns where the ground was uneven including some holes, bricks and cracks, I step on these a few times, but later recovered well. This is a very technical race in which the rider has to maintain momentum or will get drop due to the nasty accordion effect in the several turns everyone has to do in the lap; I realized that being in front would help the situation very well. Remaining 5 laps the pace went really hard and those in the back wanted to be at front very badly and those at front wanted to defend their position. I did very well on defending my top 15th place until the end. However, remaining a single lap I was still on top15th and a big crash happened in the middle of the peloton right at the start/finish line, a nasty one, I was lucky because I was in the front and didn't get affected, so I continued, the top riders became very aggressive and taking the turns well was a key factor, most of us remained in position just until the last corner where the speed really takes off. At this point I gained at least 6 positions, but got pushed to the side by two guys which I can not remember because I didn't get a close look due to the sprint, so I decide to roll hard sitting on my saddle instead of sprinting out of it and defended my 11th position.
This is a race that I will love to do next year again, I feel that I can do better and with more teammates it will make it nicer. I look forward for the 4th of July race in which I will push harder in both cats elite and masters, hopefully my teammates will show up. It was nice to see Wendy in the 4's already, so that will add up our chances to do well next time.
Notice that only 62 riders out of 100 finished the race due to the crash in the last lap.
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