It was drizzling before the race and pretty chilly. Maybe that explained the comparatively low turnout of about 19. It felt like the race was not as hard as last year since nobody was really interested in driving the pace. Instead, the course did its own selection. Despite the modest pace most of the race, the hills would pop a few people as we went along. By the second lap we were down to about 12, and on the last lap we were at 6 at one point until some chasers caught back on.
The final selection was Jason Boynton (Endeavor), Brian Kaker (Beans & Barley), Luke Seemann and John Tomlinson (xXx), Jordan Heimer (Geargrinder), and myself. On the last lap the xXx guys started attacking, but it seemed to me that JT wasn't feeling very good so Luke did a bunch of attacking while he sat on. It looked like Luke was testing people and trying to wear us down more than he was actually attempting to get away, and the Geargrinder rider did the work of closing the gaps nearly every time so I wasn't worried. In fact, I mostly sat in despite some protestations that the chasers were catching us. After we got over the last climb I was feeling really good and felt good about my chances even with the addition of a few chasers. It doesn't make for epic racing and proud storytelling to sit in and wait for the sprint, but sometimes you do what you need to do given the situation.
The chasers caught us on the finishing stretch and nobody wanted to start winding things up. I waited very patiently near the back and positioned myself on the right side, out of the wind. After a couple of false starts, we got pretty close to the line and things opened up. I was on Tomlinson's wheel as he charged up the middle but he ran out of gas and I squeezed through on the right. It's an odd feeling for me to be flying past people in the sprint, but I had a good jump and got past everyone except Kaker, who was a couple of lengths ahead. It was a short, quick sprint and I felt great, like the win was well within my reach. Instead, 2nd is a pretty good result for a race like this.
4 comments:
Great job, Lyle. If only Heimer had made you guys do some of the work! :)
Hope to see you at Denzer. Bring some friends ... <20 fields are for the birds.
Excellent race Lyle.
Looking at the results, it seems that I didn't even race at all. :)
Are you planning on going to Denzer?
Thanks.
I probably won't go to Denzer because Wheels On Willy is the next day, and that's usually a main focus of my season.
LDH the sprinter? Who new?!? Nice job, brotha. I'll save a spot for you at the start line, so hurry up and get those needed upgrade points.
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