May 14, 2008
Opus 5
We had a bigger group this evening than last week, due to the fact that the rain held off and the roads were dry. The temps were a bit cool at 53 F, but it made for a fast race. There were three MN Gopher racers out tonight who kept things exciting. Every time the group started to slow, one of them would go off the front. There was also a guy from Synergy that was strong and two Silver guys (Ben and Wally?) that kept the race exciting too. Cobra was out in force tonight, but our 4's race is pretty lean from a Loon perspective.
My goal was to take it easier through the first couple of sprints and save my energy for the last two sprints. Well I took it easier in the first two sprints, but failed to take it easy enough. As the first sprint ramped up, I was near the front and found myself in a position to take 3rd without too much effort. In the second sprint, I found myself in a similar position. I saw Cobra just ahead of me and he was starting to fade a bit. I got on his wheel and just started yelling at him to go, we did a 2-3 across the line, with Ben taking first I believe. On the 3rd sprint I was following wheels and found myself sitting fourth. As my lead out guy started to go, I realized that if I wanted to have enough left in the tank for the final sprint, I should back off, which is what I did. I then found myself doing some chasing in the last two laps which softened the legs.
Going into the final sprint, I was sitting 3rd behind the Synergy guy (1st position) and one other rider. The Synergy was nervous and started to slow a bit and look back. Instead of going, I was nervous and also was waiting for someone to jump. In the mean time, Cobra came up the outside like a bullet and easily took the sprint. I faded to 7th or so across the line. With 2 points to my name for the night I came in 6th on the race. Fun racing, my tactics still have a ways to go, but I am happy that I have scored points in 4 of the 5 races and I am psyched for Cobra and his 2nd place tonight.
Posted by kermisch at May 14, 2008 7:32 AM