Today was my first pack race since April 2005. Ironically, that was the race that got me my upgrade to Cat 4. I hadn't ever raced in a pack as a Cat 4. I've done several time trials, but nothing in a group.
The Blueberry Circuit Race is 5 laps of a 6.3 mile course, for 31.5 miles of racing. It's almost completely flat and had just 4 corners (one of them pretty sharp).
All week, I've been bugging my teammates about "who wants to go in the breakaway with me?" Everyone said the same thing, "no breakaway ever succeeds in this race." I was determined to make one happen.
Luckily, my teammate Aaron started it. We were only about a mile or so into the race when he made a move. I waited for someone else to try to catch him, then jumped on his wheel. As we came out the next turn, there were six of us together.... and we had probably 50 yards on the group. We quickly formed a rotating paceline and kept the pace at 22 to 24 mph for the next 30 miles.
Back in the pack, the 20 other riders from QCW Cycling/breakawaybikes.com did everything they could to stop anyone from chasing us. They rode four across at a slow pace. They chased every breakaway attempt and messed with their rhythm. Basically, they did what good teammates did: keep the pack off us. I heard some rumblings that our pack got as much as five minutes ahead of the pack.
The six of us worked pretty smoothly together. With a mile left, we had a round of congratulations to each other for working together so well, exchanged a few pats on the back, then gunned it. I pulled alongside Aaron, tapped him to get his attention, and then took off with him on my wheel. My download showed us at 32.6 mph. Hardly a great sprint, but certainly hard to catch. I held the pace as long as I could, then moved off the front. Aaron shot past me going for the win.
About 10 feet back were three more riders. I got on their wheel, caught my breath for a second, then attacked again. Another rider countered and got in front of me. I was sure I had third when another rider flew by me and the rider in front of me to catch second.
I want to be upset about not seeing him coming and doing anything about it (I could have gotten on his wheel and caught the other guy for third), but I'm absolutely thrilled with a 4th place finish in an event of this caliber.
A few stats:
Distance: 31.5 miles
Finishing Time: 1:20:38
Avg Speed: 23.4 mph
Max Speed: 32.6 mph
Normalized Power: 256 watts
Max Power: 1057 watts
I know I was lucky to have a huge team presence this day and I was in the right place when the break happened. I didn't have any control over the team presence, but I did have control over my location in the pack.
Now I just have to live up to the results from today for the rest of the summer!
Lastly, my thoughts are with my teammates and fellow riders who crashed today, some of whom were seriously hurt.
