This race marked the beginning of the season for most of us. Off the bat it was Ken Hamel and Jim Woulfe in the cat 4's who rode well. Jim doubled up in the 45+ to ride with Lionel "Little Train" Trahan. As expected, the Arc boys blew the race apart. Lionel got something like third in the field sprint to get the first top ten fiinsh of the season for AFD with a ninth place finish.
A bunch of us lined up for the 35+ race led by Jonny B, and Turbo Trainerman Mike M. Rod, Scott, Der and myself rounded out the field for the squad. With my fitness being suspect, I was riding it like a normal Wednesday night crit, leaving nothing on the road.
Arc boy JLo attacked early and I bridged to him and another, but dropped them and rode a couple of laps alone at the start of the race gaining television exposure for our sponsors. Mike would lead an immediate counter attack. It seemed like that was the recipe most of the race as Jonny was patrolling the front while Mike or I went with something. Please note, when I am recovering, I don't see a thing except maybe God and my lunch. Its all fuzzy, so if I miss something in the play by play, forgive me.
Anyhow, Rod got in a big move towards the end of the break with about 5 guys and stuck it out. I thought it was going to be the move, but big John McCloud went to the front and got them close enough for the field to finish them off. Rod hung tough and didn't get dropped which was a major step forward for him. He said something like "Let's see Jim do that!" as he drifted back through the field.
The next few laps were constant attacks and counter attacks led by Jon Bold and other big guns. I jumped on most of them. With about a little over two to go, Bold attacked, then it mushroomed. I jumped throught the field and had old pal Al Potter with me. I thought for a moment that this could actually stick if the field hesitated. Alas it was not meant to be as we got caught on the hill and I went to the back. A quick recovery, and I was trying to get back up to the front, but Derek was up there driving hard and it was tough as heck to move up with the field all strung out after a hard effort. Mike said that Der (I'm outta shape) did an awesome job and Jonny looked to have the race in hand but the wiley Paul Curley got him at the line..
In the cat 3 race, Mike and I doubled up and were pretty spent. Scrappy lined up with us to help out Adam. Adams plan was to go with about 15 minutes left in the race with a couple of guys. I was staying near the front and chasing down most of the early stuff and started to cramp. Adding insult to injury, Shawn gave me a push up the hill as my calves were a couple of knots. When the move went, Adam missed out. I was there, but didn't have the gas to keep pace and like that, it was over. Timing is everything. We had the guns in the race, but not enough bullets. When I tried to respond all I got was a 'click'. Good in Russian Roulette, but not when you are hunting the big game. That's ok, looking at the field, I think we'll do ok in the three's when we are firing on all cylinders.