Race 2 of 2 for the day. After the 35+ 4 I had planned to hydrate grab a bite to eat then roll around till the start of the 4’s. Ended up flappin my jaw more than anything. Did mange to get some food in and hit the head before it was time to line up. I was pretty relaxed as we lined up. Which came as a surprise after the sketchyness of the last race. 80 or so dudes were lined up ready to play. Whistle tweets and we are rolling. Really mellow at first. I mean like 20 mph mellow. For about a lap and a half. Then we are clipping along at 28 again. OK lets go. Legs feeling good, sun is out, low wind. What more could you ask for? How about guys pulling their heads out of their rear ends and racing clean. Pretty much a repeat of the first race. Dudes are over the place. I mean by all accounts this course should be safe. 4 lanes, wide corners, simple chicane and decent pavement. But no, I think the 5’s raced safer last year. Anyways, about 15 minutes in 2 guys get tangled up and go down. One of those stupid crashes. One guy leans into another. Instead of leaning back into him he leans the same direction and down they go. Of course this had to happen right in front of me. Really thought I was going to get caught up in this one but was able to squeak by on the right. I surge back to the pack and start to move up. You would hope that people would think twice after a wreck. Nahh. A few laps later I’m moving up through the group. A guy decides to close the door on me. As he comes over I hear the wonderful ting-ting-ting of his rear derailluer hitting my front spokes. Was able to jink away from him and avoid any damage to bike or body. Starting to get not so fun. With 2 to go I see Erik is sitting in a great position in the top 10. I could probably work my way up to him but my “give-a-damn” seems to be busted. I just sit in and wait for the finish. Watch as Erik goes strong and gets 8th. I’m not far behind him but I didn’t sprint at all so I cross the line in 30th. Very happy to be leaving with all my skin.
Mike