Marblehead

[Thomas Coleman]

So after a good showing the weekend before winning the 3/4 then getting 9th in the P123 I decided on a whim to do Marblehead. Since I would be wearing the leaders jersey for the Cat 3 overall. we ended up having a small squad Chris, PJ and myself. during the warm up i brought up the idea to Chris that i'll lead him out and he immediately shot it down and said im riding for YOU! so the pressure was on. the goal was to get into a breakaway since im not the best group sprinter. as the race started i was nervous because it was admittedly a STACKED field and i was hoping for maybe a top 10. (even then i had my doubts). but i was just going to stick to the plan and watch for breaks. the first half of the race there were quite a few accelerations and attempts but nothing was going anywere. next i see Cole A, John Harris and some other strong dudes put in a big dig so i follow and next thing you know we have a break of about 8 strong dudes and it looks promising. we go a few laps drilling the pace. next thing you know there is a big pile up of cars 3 or 4 of them blocking the road. dew to coming to a near complete stop we're caught. then i was trying to rest in the bunch a little, maybe admittedly a little to far back, and i notice Chris is at the front and i had a few lame attempts to get back up there. but i hard a hard time moving up. next i see him looking back for me. he spots me and falls back. then politely says get the f*ck up there (atleast the way i took it haha). i jump on his wheel and he gets me back to the front. as all of this happened i see a guy go off the front and drill it (to end up being gone for the rest of the race). just in time for John Harris, Smith Anderson, and a bunch of other fast guys start drilling the pace so i jump in the second fast break of the day. and were chasing the solo break. we eventually get a solid gap to the group. and are working well together but it wasn't enough to close down the gap to the heroic solo effort. then as were coming by the finishing hill i hear Chris yell that hes out with a flat. come to find out PJ flatted on the same hole. so they ended up standing on top of the finishing hill yelling encouragement to me with each passing lap. on the last lap i end up at the front of the group and nobody wanted to pull through as we approached the bottom of the hill i was still on the front but ready to respond knowing that 1/2 of the group was absolutely shelled and i surprisingly felt good. about 3/4 up the hill Smith Anderson attacked, but i was able to attack harder and with the encouragement of my cheering squad they yelled "there's a GAPPPPP!!!" so i keep accelerating holding off the group to the line for 2cd place. crossing the line in complete shock. and im still in shock.

[JeremyC]

Awesome! Just skip Cat 2

[KTeves]

Wow! What a start to the season Tom. You are absolutely crushing it. Congrats!