Fall Fling Stage #1

Road Race in Westlake Village outside of Rockford.

Citizens/Cat 5 <- sad I know.

Things went well early on. I ended up in the front of the field right off the line AGAIN. I rode slow as crap hoping others would come around and no one did. I take corners well/fast and tookt he first one in front.

I heard MJH2 come along side and say, "no one's coming. Screw 'em. Let's go!" I turned and saw a decent gap that we had ont he field. :wtf: I did not expect that. We gave it a half-assed go and were quickly caught.

From there I found I ended up in 1st or second position. RJBTrek and I were trading up front quite a bit. We were both looking for others to take over. MJH2 later pointed out that everyone must have read online that they were not supposed to work ever so none of them were. I have to agree.

Inputflangeman had decided to join in for today's race. Those of you who have ridden with him know he's a triathlete with a great diesel engine. We "advised" him before the race that it might be a good idea for him to go up front and ride his pace due to his background. He did just that. He went up front and worked hard enough to keep people from coming around, but not hard enough to kill us.

Everything was great....then we got close to the line to start the second lap (7.5mile laps). I heard a guy sprinting by. Started calling out "Left-side!" Then looked and saw it wasn't just one or two or three guys, but a train...and it was trucking. The speed went up drastically and a few of the lesser experienced riders in front on me and MJH2 started popping and getting squirrelly. We both got boxed in....

SUCK! I felt like bumping them out of the way, but just worked with it. We got gapped enough that we had to go nuclear to get back on. That's when I popped. I just couldn't do that effort and recover quick enough.

I dropped like a rock through most of the pack and then solo TT'd the rest of the ride. Picked up a wheel sucker for a while. He didn't understand how to work together. Happens all the freeking time to me during races.

There was no one to sprint when I finished. :( Sucked. I was feeling great today. I had tons of power at the end. I could have ridden really well, but just screwed up the read of the race and couldn't cover that move.

Tomorrow is stage 2 - a crit. I know it will be fast. Don't know how I will do. I guess I will find out. Not nearly as happy tonight as I thought I would be. Oh well. One day I will do well in a race.

I suck.