Today was my second race as a Cat 4. After yesterday's performance in Chantilly, I set 2 simple goals. 1) Stay upright. 2)Stay with the pack. Both missions were accomplished. We started out with a full group of 75 (per the official at the start line). From the "go", we settled pretty quickly into "group mentality". I would have liked to have seen it string out a little more, but I won't complain. The wind was brutal, probably gusting in the 30-40mph range. There was also a hill just prior to the start/finish, which was both a help and a hinderance. It sure sucked to race up that thing every lap, but if nothing else, it also prevented anybody from getting away. The picture above is from our first "Prime" lap (about 3 laps in). That's me in the red and black jersey on the left, in front of the group. I didn't stay in that position long. Most of the race, I managed to stay in the top 30% or so. On the final lap, I hung with the leaders, but had to jam the brakes to avoid what I thought was going to be a crash, so I lost momentum going into the hill. It actually probably only lost me 2 or 3 positions, and I finished 28th overall.
The course was good, open, and fast. there was only one real turn, which was a fast right hander. If it weren't for the small patch of wet gravel on the inside of the turn, it would have been perfect. Maybe next year it will be completely dry...and without all the wind.
Another "great" quote was heard at the end of this race. A group of 3 came in about 45 secs after the field and a guy riding a Litespeed shod with 808's was bitching to a guy behind him. The quote was "Dude, you have to learn to hold your F@#$ing line!! Clearly he would have gone from 45 seconds off the back to winning the race if the dude could've held his line better...whatever...Good race your part Brian!!
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