We had a huge 13 person team for the 3/4, which meant the pressure was really on MRC to deliver a result. With Robbie and Rees killing it this year, they we're our early attackers, with pretty much everyone else lined up for counter attacking, leaving only Gibbo as a protected rider for the run into the #FoD, aka #MylesMeatGrinder (thanks Tom).
The race was only 20 miles, so we would be attacking fast and furious until something stuck. After sitting on the start line for 30 minutes we were finally off. It was quite impressive to watch literally everyone from MRC attack over and over throughout the race. And on top of that, every other attack from another team was covered by at least 1 MRCer but sometimes multiple. My favorite moment early in the race, there was an attack up the right side to bridge to a small break, my good friend the Pirate was close by but looked like he wasn't sure what to do, I yelled at him to cover it, he started to go then stopped, I yelled at him again, and he went across and then attacked the break over the top. The for the rest of the race he attacked 3 or 4 more times, Robbie attacked 373 times (i counted). But everyone was in the mix especially Jacob, Dave M, Rob C., Jason, AJ, and even Briana who is learning the road race thing quickly.
To our dismay, nothing stuck, and on the topside of the course Robbie and AJ's last break attempt was caught and they went straight from break mode to leadout mode (after more yelling from me
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
The Pirate and I did a cool down ride and then lined up for the 40+. The earlier race was so hard I just wanted to sit in for a lap or 2. Burgel and Chris B were our fresh racers, with myself, the Pirate, Mingori, The Diesel Batten, Jacob, McCay, and Rob C. all in the 2nd race of the double up. Burgel likes to suffer so our main strategy was to get him in a break. This happened I think on the 2nd lap but he only had 1 partner. They were off the front for a long time, I felt bad for Josh because there were a lot of big guns in the race and none of them were with him. The likelyhood of this working was slim, and they were caught with 2 to go. We all did a decent job following moves, not of which stuck and Burgel even went in another promising move but it got reeled in. At the start of the last lap Burgel asked me if I wanted a lead out, to which I said "only if you're done attacking" and he said "yeah I'm cooked". So he proceeded to drive the pace for the next 1/2 lap (I wish I could be that cooked). Coming up the backside hill I was well positioned near the front and had mentally accepted my role as designated FoD sprinter until they neutralized the race. There were multiple Cat 5 crashes in the FoD and they were clearing up the human debris. We sat for 15 minutes, then slow rolled to the finish where they gave us 1 more lap to contest a "safe sprint" (yeah right, do we look like we were born yesterday?). I contemplated quitting the race several times, as I new the restart for 1 lap was a bad idea. Anyway they let us go sooner than expected to I decided to duke it out. It was a fast lap, 28+ MPH, but again I was near the front and we were coming into the final rise but I was 15th wheel, and Dean Philips was DRILLING it on the front. I was struggling to move up until Dave McCay came to the rescue and moved me up the right and dropped me at the top of the FoD. I sprinted and muscled my way into 3rd wheel behind Dean and David Hildebrand another stud masters racer. Dean single-handedly held off the field through the FoD and coming into 100 to go I actually thought I could win. Hildebrand opened his sprint around Dean and I did the same. We were both gaining and I momentarily thought I could come around both but sprinting at 40 MPH into a head wind was excruciating, and ultimately I realized it wasn't going to happen and I say back down to be more aero. Anyway we finished in the same order, Dean Hildebrand and me. My first road podium in a few years and I pocketed a whopping $30 which I will be sure to spread throughout the team, $2.37ea.
Sadly there was some carnage behind, Rob C getting caught in a FoD crash and apparently breaking some ribs and maybe a punctured lung. The Pirate drive his car to the hospital and I drive the Pirates Tesla to meet him. Funny moment, I could figure out how to start the Tesla, I needed McCay to come over and help. He read the manual from the car's supercomputer and we figured out you needed to put the blinker on to start the car. Wow very high tech.
Sad part 2, Tom Coleman crashed at high speed in the #MylesMeatGrinder and needs a new everything because he looked like he got run over by a lawn mower.
Otherwise it was a fun day.