Orosi
Field: 10
Place 4th
2 laps
My field only had 10 people. We did two laps. I started out feeling good but this course took a lot out of me. Carl from Danville who climbed Mt. Diablo 200 times last year, broke up the field on the first big climb. Four of us were together at the top. I managed to hang on by sticking close to Carl and Geoff Drake. We did not go hard enough, Carl actually did too much pulling for the next several miles. Shortly after the bridge the pack of five or six caught us. About 8 miles from the start/finish Chris from San Jose BC went ahead on the fast descent. I stuck close to him and when the road flattened out the pack was together.
On the second lap Carl set an even harder pace. He wanted to make sure we didn’t get caught this time. Five of us made it to the top but we got strung out. I was the last one and had to work hard to catch up. After two laps I was done. I could not have done another lap, at least not at that pace. On the final fast decent Chris jumped ahead again but this time no one followed. Everyone must of thought we would catch him at the bottom. He got far enough ahead that four of us working together never caught him and he took first place. I started to sprint with Scott from Mammoth but my legs only lasted about 10 seconds then it was between Scott and Geoff. Geoff took second and Scott third. I got fourth and Carl 5th.
It was a very hard race because of the fast climbing pace.
Bill