The Race: Like most other races, this one went out real easy. The first thing I noticed was a large contingency of Ommegeng/Syracuse Bicycle members who were holding out the front line. I sat in as best I could without losing too much contact with the front of the pack because it was clear they were going to make moves. As we hit a very quick uphill the leaders tested the pack a little by picking it up swiftly. It didn't drop anyone besides those were were noticeably unprepared for racing. Next we hit a decent climb at 5.5 miles in, this one was much more serious as it was the first real effort of the race. Normally, I'd come out of the hill up at the front and comfortable, but about halfway through I was already looking to where the peak was. I made it up the first hill, and knew it wasn't going to get any better - the feeling I had when I went up the finish hill warming up. So I made sure to conserve as best as I could. The next set up was a slight uphill, with a quick downhill recovery, then a steeper and longer hill (miles 6-10.5). Coming up the first part, the leaders started pushing pretty solidly - as would be expected. There were less than ten guys who got a bit of a gap at this point, 2 were slightly off the lead pack by 15-20m and the rest of us were around 30m back. Kevin and I were at the front of this group. We saw that another hill was upcoming and knew we had to get back before it if we wanted to be in the race - because they were not going to let up at all on the second hill. I was feeling pretty fried working these hills, which was a major letdown as I was excited to be in a race with a team who was working it pretty good and I wanted to be in it to step it up - but the duathlon beat me up pretty good. Kevin made the push to reattached and I figured I'd might as well go with. Once we caught the two who were 15m or so back, Kevin started to slow up and had it not been a teammate I would have stayed tucked in. Without receiving a signal I jumped in front of him and pulled with what I had at that time to reattach. Luckily my efforts did not go in vain. After the race Kevin told me had I not jumped in for that pull he didn't think he would have been able to reattach and maintain.
That pull made me taste the red zone a little, not something I've ever had until about 1 mile to go in a bike race. I knew had I kept crushing myself I would've blown up. The next climb was immediately after my pull and once we hit it, I was struggling. I worked to not lose too much contact, and there were more than 5 of us who got dropped back. At the pretty consistent downhill we worked to make contact - and got damn close: about 3 seconds (45m) coming out of a turn. Only two of us (myself and a CNYC guy) had put in significant work, and we could've gotten back in it had 2-3 of the other guys made the effort. We started to drift and lost the leaders. I continued to keep the tempo up and didn't realize I dropped the others, so I sat up and waited so I could conserve. The group eventually grew to 12 (I only thought it was 6 during the race but I just checked the results: http://flcycling.org/?page_id=2101). But I took a few pulls, and the CNYC guy did nearly all the work. We took it somewhat comfortably, but I was pretty tired and just wanted to have enough gas to move up the finish hill. Things were pretty uninterested here on out - besides that kicker I mentioned at 16...not fun. We came into the turn towards the finish and cruised into the hill. The CNYC guy jumped and I let him go: not only did he deserve it, but I didn't know how little I had in the tank and didn't want to blow up halfway up the hill. The next guy went - from SU (Cat4) - and I stuck somewhat close to him, less than a meter off his back wheel. The hill kicked up but I still had no idea where the finish was, then, when I finally saw it, the line was 20m away. I started to reel him in and with about 10m to go, put in a hard effort to (with a high guarantee) nip him at the line - I was too sore to try to bury anyone. I got him by less than half a wheel length to secure 12th place (2nd in the chase group), but knew I had it for sure
I was glad to be done. Kevin ended up 3rd, which is excellent considering it was in a 4/5 race. I'm glad I had a hand in getting him back up to that lead pack, it was pretty rewarding knowing that even though my race was quite lackluster, I helped a teammate get to a good finish. I hadn't experienced this before (I tried to make some moves with Jensen at the PSU Crit, but we weren't organized enough). I'm really looking forward to the absolutely massive UR contingent @ Bristol this coming Saturday! Currently 11 of 18 confirmed riders are with UR!
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