4 of us racing in the 4s. Chris, Stefan and myself fresh from the SanDiego trip and looking for a little warm up ahead of Battenkill and Todd S doubling up after getting dropped earlier in his daughters race
1st time I've done this race and it is almost an outstanding event. Great 5 mile loop with a few twists and turns, some ups and downs but no real hill combined with a partial (1 way) road closure which meant there was no yellow line rule and we had the full width to play with. The thing that lets it down is the horrendous road surface. Lots of frost heaves and 3 sections where the surface was totally broken up over the full road.
The 4s race was 4 laps for 20 miles. Chris and I bumped into one of our Cyclocross nemesises who is from that area and knows the roads. He wanted to try and make a break right from the start. We were happy to go with this and see how it works. Gunning it from the start was a good shout being out in front on the poor road avoiding lot of guys who haven't been riding in a pack for a while. The plan didn't have the desired affect though. After the 1st lap everything was still together. Nobody in the 4s knows how to pull through and share the work. They either attack or sit on a wheel and wait for someone else to do the work. Cycleloft kept pinging someone off the front to no effect, CCB tried to make a team move, and other than that it was the usual bunch of individuals having a go. For the 1st (bumpiest ) half of the 2nd lap I drifted back a little and realised it wasn't the place to be so moved back up the field and stayed there for the rest of the race. Chris and Stefan were also riding well up towards the front as was Todd who hung out on the front on the 3rd lap before calling it a day. There was the obligatory cat 4 crash on the bumpiest part of the course on the last lap that robbed Stefan of a good finish. Chris and I got into nice position for the sweeping left heading down toward the finish. Chris got pinched on the right and had to ride in the pine needles rather than jump on my wheel for the lead out. He still managed to get it back together for a great 7th place. I put my head down and went for the line. Finishing strong but my full sprint isn't there yet (probably all that climbing in SD) still managed to get into a tyre width lunge for the line for 2nd,3rd,4th about half a bike back of 1st. Got 4th and came away with a medal. Happy with that.
Need to mention the great performance of a MRC alum. Mike Wieler took 6th in the 3s as part of a 2 man chase group. Pretty impressive for his 1st season in the 3s
Looks like the Cat 4 team is starting off the season on the right foot. Keep it going at Battenkill.
