Today's race was 20 miles, made up of 15 laps of a 1.4 mile course that has 6 turns and a 180-degree hairpin turn at one end. The roads were a little on the narrow side but the turns were not too bad.
The pace was fast from the start with the traditional surges coming out of every turn. I'm still finding that my high speed turning is not what it should be. I just can't take a full turn at 22 mph yet. As a result, I lost a few places in each turn and I had to work a little harder coming out of each turn.
I held on for dear life for the first 10 miles, during which we averaged about 24 mph, reaching speeds near 30 mph on the one long straight segment.
Coming out of the one turn, I just lost contact with the pack. I can't say why, really. I was going as hard as I could and the pack just pulled away. I kept my pace up as well as I could, but I was losing ground.
About a half lap later, I caught up to me teammate, Pete, who had also lost contact with the group. Once I was on his wheel, Pete suddenly caught a second wind. He took off so hard that I could barely hang on. At first I thought he'd lost his mind. Then I realized that he was working to catch another group of 3 that was about 35 seconds ahead of us.
We worked together, keeping the pace high for a lap and a half. I got a look at how the race was unfolding: There was the lead pack, about a 30 second gap, and then the group that we were chasing. Coming out of the hairpin that lap, Pete had given all that he had. He had gotten me to within 12 seconds of the other group. Now it was up to me to close down the rest.
I charged into the next turn at full speed, just trying to bring them back. I saw them go past the stop sign in the next turn and started counting...1....2....3.... 10 seconds. I hit the turn and sprinted up the next segment like my life counted on it. I saw them go into the next turn and started counting 1...2...3... 8 seconds. I gritted my teeth and gunned it again. The next turn: 4 seconds. The next turn, 2 seconds.
On the long straight section, I caught them and breathed a huge sigh of relief. That chase group included two other teammates: Bradley and Jason. The four of us worked together smoothly until our last lap. The last time coming out of the hairpin, I attacked. It was too far from the finish, but I just felt like it. At this point, I had nothing to lose. I knew that I didn't have a real sprint in my legs.
I got away and had about a three bike length gap. I wasn't going to be able to stay away if that's all I could get. I took the corner at full speed and attacked again. I didn't really gain anything. Over the next segment, they brought me back. I sat on the back and we came through the finish line. Done!
I really owe it to Pete. If not for him, I'd have probably sat up and just cruised around the course until the finish. He didn't just pull me to within striking distance. He inspired me to work harder.
I later found out that the officials had called us in early. They wanted to open up the course for them to take out the one segment with two-way traffic, so we would not have made it around again before they reached that segment. No biggie. I still finished 14th.
It was a great day for the team. We had two guys in the top 4 in the Cat 5, 4 guys in the top 10 in the Cat 4, and positions 2, 4, and 6 in the Women's cat 4. I expect that we did even more in other races after I left.
Total distance: 20.4 miles
Time: 52: 15
Avg Speed: 22.9 mph
Avg Power: 233 watts (261 normalized)
