Piece of Cake Road Race-2nd Cat3

Saturday I competed in the POC Road Race. To clarify for the triathletes and runners reading, this was a cycling road race. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 cyclists were competing in my category, and it made for an exciting race.

The course:
*17.5 mile circuit to be completed 3 times
*3 miles of gravel about 2 miles from the start. (also to be ridden over 3 times)
*rolling hills and windy, but beautiful, sunny conditions

My Objectives:
*Ride in the front 1/3rd of the race to stay out of danger in the event of a crash or an attack
*Conserve as much energy as possible by riding inside of the mass of riders for as long as possible
*Make a mid-late race breakaway (of my own doing or another rider's)
*Win (always one of the goals :)   )
*Watch the field and gain experience with team tactics, reading riders and the race

From the Gun:
Short, 1/2 mile neutral roll out and then it was on! The course starts with it's most significant hill and straight away everyone was on the gas, trying to get to the front before the section of gravel. I stayed in the thick of things, and by the time we hit the rough stuff, I was in the center of the group, about three riders back. The gravel turned out to be much rougher than I had anticipated, and the ruts from the cars were the only ride-able part of the road (unless you wanted to use about 30% more energy in the REALLY deep stuff). This made it very difficult to move up or back in the gravel for this reason, and I knew this would affect the race throughout the day.

Once back on the pavement, the pace slowed down significantly, and it was clear that the riders at the front were not interested in working. However, since crossing the yellow line on the road meant disqualification, the rest of the field had to sit behind and wait for opportunities to move up. Eventually, 4 or 5 riders attacked off the front of the group and things started to heat up. I stayed patient, working near the front, and we slowly pulled back all of the riders. Or so I thought.

At this point we had started to catch dropped riders from other races and I lost track of who was up the road. It turned out someone from team Capa-Soraz had stayed out solo and had a gap of nearly a minute! Upon this realization, team "Ten Guys named Alex" went to the front and started working to bring him back. Shortly thereafter, a small group of riders made a break, and I jumped on a wheel and went with. We were brought back by the main field shortly, and another group of riders immediately counterattacked. I went with this break as well, but it was again brought back. At this point, I looked at the riders around me, who were taking sips of water and looking tired from the efforts, and I launched my own, all-out attack and managed to get a small gap of 50 meters.

I held this gap for nearly 3 miles, and made it back to the gravel section just as another rider from team Guinness caught up to me. I knew we could negotiate the gravel slightly faster than the larger group, and our timing turned out to be excellent. We went from holding a 50 meter gap to suddenly pulling away over the gravel, and by the time we reached the pavement again, we had nearly 30 seconds lead over our pursuers. It was time to catch the leader.

We took turns breaking the wind for one another, and by about 10 miles to go, we had pulled to within 30 seconds of the lead rider. It was about this point that my comrade ran out of steam and I had to press on alone. He had put in a monumental ride to catch up to me, and we had worked well together. I slowly reeled in the man out front, and about 3 miles from the finish, I made the catch. We exchanged pleasantries, his name was Kyle, racing for the Athletes Lounge sponsored, Capa-Soraz team, so we had something in common. We rode fairly relaxed, as our lead was now 1:20 over the bunch, and with 200meters to go, I tried to sprint from behind him and win the race. Unfortunately, he managed to get in my slipstream, and come around me with 50 meters to go, and won the race. It was the first time I have sprinted against a lone opponent, and it was a great experience. Congratulations to Kyle for being stronger on the day.

Prizes!

It is worth noting that the main field that sprinted for 3rd behind us, crashed into the finish line, and timing equipment, and results for our race have yet to be posted. This is part of the reason I tend to make breakaways; the mayhem of the final sprint can be very dangerous and isn't worth the risk when I am trying to succeed as a professional triathlete. Still, bike racing is great experience for draft-legal triathlon, not to mention a ton of fun :) Congratulations to everyone who raced, and thank you to my sponsors, the race organizers, and volunteers, you made this great event possible.