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What Tim saw:
Category: 4
Result: Back of pack
I came into this race with pretty high expectations - a top 10, or at
least a top 20. My strategy was to stay at the front and out of
harm's way.
I did this for the first 5-10 minutes of the race and was probably no
lower than 20th. At some point I ended up third wheel behind two
Third Piller guys. The first Third Pillar guy pulled the pack around
for two laps at 28 mph. That second lap turned out to be a prime lap,
and somewhere between turns 3 and 4 the first Third Pillar guy pulled
off, and the Third Pillar rider sitting on his wheel jumped. I wasn't
able to get on his wheel so he got the prime.
I was really tired after that effort and tried to recuperate in the
pack. I eventually moved up a couple of times, but each time I was
too tired to hold the wheel in front of me and I'd start moving
backwards again.
With 3 laps to go, I sat near the back of the pack and a couple of
guys went down near the start/finish line. One guy didn't get up, so
the field was neutralized for a couple of laps (we just rolled around
the course at 22 mph). Finally, they restarted us at the line (from a
stop) with 3 to go. I figured this was a good opportunity to get a
good placing, but so did 95 others. I started to go backwards on the
last lap, and rolled in with a very "back-of-the-pack" finish.
I'm a little disappointed that I didn't have good legs for this race,
but I guess it is still pretty early in the season.
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What German saw:
Category: 4
Result: Mid-pack
Weather was nice and very sunny; temperature was also in the high 60's. Fast 4 corner race with very good pavement except for turn 2, which had a few pavement cracks.
Started in the first 20 riders and maintained position most of the time, faced the front wind a couple of times but moved back to the middle of the peloton to recover energies. Remaining 10 laps I was in the first 15 riders and defended my position all the time. 5 laps left and I was in top 10 position, but remaining 4 laps a big crash happened and fortunately, I was able to skip it, the race was neutralized; which, was not good for those of us in the front, since it gave recovery time to those fighting for better positioning.
We started again and the pace was very strong, but I managed to stay in top 10, until the last lap. At this time I took off remaining half lap and cough 3 more guys ahead of me, it was very windy, I push very hard and managed to be in 4th place to the final sprint remaining 200 yards, but my legs betrayed me and I felt like I was slowing down, so from 4th place I ended in 32nd place, which really was a disappointment, knowing I could have save energies for the very end, but, it was a good experience and I felt very competitive overall. Next time, I will plan my race a bit better.
Notice that out of 100 riders, only 80 managed to finish it. It was a tough race!
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