Where to begin??? AFD had a big turn out for Providence. The cat 4's lead off the day with Ken, Adam and Rich. The field of 100 was totally shredded early on. Ken rode the whole day at the back of the pack. Once he got by you, you were doomed to riding the race alone. Ken must be strong in that field cuz it is difficult to ride at the back. Rich was usually found near the front of the field and rode a good race. Adam crashed early and was scraped and bloody. He managed to fight the pain and really put forth a hell of a sprint getting second place and the first AFD placing of the day.
Ok, after going to Bike racing 101 the day before, this was my test.
Pre-Race - F
Strategy - C-
Positioning - D+
Overall - D-
From star student to class clown in a day... Where to begin. Well I get an F for pre-race in that I put my bike in the car vs the roof rack and it put the brake a little out of kilter and it was rubbing my wheel. No big deal except that I noticed this AFTER the race. I'm off to detention for that one. I'm almost afraid to admit that bonehead move. Mike and I started near the rear of the field and got into a little tiff with a Bikeworks guy who was all over the place trying to get into his pedal. Ok, it was Mitch and we yelled at him to go back to NBW rides with a couple of "whoa guys" thrown in for good measure.
I was struggling early on and couldn't move up. After a couple of laps, Mike pulled along side me and said we were the rear guard. The bike was shifting like crap today (also my fault) and each time to the line was a sufferfest up the little rise. As the race progressed, the pace slowed and I was able to move up. I tried an attack and Alan Antonelli (Casters) was with me. He pulled through really hard and I was suffering. We didn't last long and got caught on the finishing straight. Later, Mike went for a prime and got nipped for the prize. A couple of laps later, I found myself in position for one and went for it. I came away with a OLN hat and kinda figured out the last corner at high speed in case I was in good position for the finish. With 4 to go, there was a guy off the front for BRC(for several laps) and Sam Pickman (Caster's) was closing on him. I jumped and bridged to Sam. We got to the BRC guy, but as we did, the field was on us. It was a waste of energy that late in the race, but I figured I'd have a go at it. I slipped way back and had to fight my way back up. Cyclonauts took control of the race for Mike Norton on the last lap and it was tough to move up. On the last lap, there were a couple of crashes. One was beside me on the final corner as two guys went right into the barrier. I looked up and was way too far back to be worth sprinting for anything and ended up 19th with Mike somewhere behind me. We didn't ride very well at all, and were dissappointed, but we'll be back swinging again.
The Master's race began and Mike and I stuck around to watch it. It was apparent to all that AFD was not going to want this to finish in a field sprint. Bill, Al, and Jon were VERY active most of the race. They were intent of breaking the elastic, but the field was really moving and Mike and I doubted that it was going to happen. We felt that even though Bill good attacking over and over this was going to end in a field sprint. Jonny B was probably going to be the best bet for the team if that happened. That didn't deter Al and Bill from trying to split things up. Jon was active as well always up at the front working hard. We would swear that Jon Bold (CCC) had a string on Bill's bike cuz he was there everytime Bill sneezed. Finally with one to go, Bill put forth an attack with Jon Bold and got a gap on the field. Would it hold? I don't know how things happened on the backside out of sight, but when the pacecar came around, it was a field sprint heading to the line with Jonny B in the mix, but he'd only get 6th place as Tobi Schultze came away with the prize. Our boys rode an awesome race from a spectator's vantage point and just came up a little short at the end. All three were aggressive and got plenty of props on the PA.