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July 20, 2008
Hopkins Crit
I raced the Master's 4/5 and Master's Open races at Hopkins. I had raced the Tuesday before, but felt pretty horrible as that was my first race back after the crash. I felt pretty good and wanted to get some revenge on the roads. We had a decent number of guys in the Master's 4/5 and Jon was in the mix, so I knew we would have an active race. I had also talked with Ben from Silver before the race and we agreed that we would try and get in a break. As we rolled off, things were not too active. I stayed near the front and just covered some wheels. On the first Prime lap I was sitting third of fourth wheel. As we went into the fourth turn, a guy jumped and latched on. He pulled me all the way to finish and I easily came around without much effort for the Prime.
Right after the Prime, Jon and Ben took a flyer and I latched on in 3rd wheel. However, the field reacted quickly and we were back in the fold. A few laps later, Jon was off the front. I eased off the front and just sat in at that point. Once Jon was caught, Ben and I went for a turn at the front. We got a good gap and for awhile there were three of us. I started to fade a bit after a few laps out front and we sat up and went back to the group. From there things stayed together until the last few laps. As we enter the last 3 laps I was bumping shoulders a bit and was getting a bit pissed. Ben rolled by and said let's go so we went. He pulled for a bit and then as we entered the 2nd to last lap I found myself on the front with Ben on my wheel. I hammered as hard as I could for the next 1 1/2 laps as we came into the final turn, Ben jumped hard and I just could not react fast enough. By the time I jumped, Ben had 2 - 3 bike lengths on me. I thought I had wrapped up 2nd, but an unattached rider came up on my right and just pipped me on the line. I was pretty happy with 3rd.
The best part of the race was that Pam and Gracie were there to cheer me on. There is nothing better than having family around to see you race.
I immediately lined up for the Master's Open race which has Cat 1/2/3/4 riders in it. I had never raced with the 1/2's and was a bit nervous. We rolled out fast and at first I stayed near the back. after about 10 laps or so I started to move up to the middle. Before I knew it I was in the front 4 riders working for the whole group for about 10 laps. I started to fade, so I drifted 1/3rd of the way back into the pack. From there I just held on. I was in no position to contest the final sprint and just rolled across the line know I had a great work out.
Posted by kermisch at July 20, 2008 7:48 PM