Mike Maloney led the boys off in the 40+ race. Extremely outnumbered by the high mileage boys from Arc-En-Ceil led, Mike rode extremely well, taking home a 12 pack of Newport Storm as a prime. Todd pretty much rode away from the field with Dave taking second place for the Arc-En-Ceil boys.
If the 40+ was the Arc-En-Ceil Invitational, the 30+ would be the AFD coming out party. Al, Bill, Mike, Jon and I lined up together. Mike made the comment that we had a pretty strong contingent. Coming to my left at the line was old pal "Whoa Guy" Jean of the Land Rover squad and newly appointed 30+ dude. Also present was ex-AFD Stoner Ray now sporting Bikeworks gear.
From the start, AFD began the attacking. I jumped a couple of times and Jonny was with me for a few of those. We was looking good and I knew he'd do well cuz his kids kept him up all night. Finally, they call a prime (2 placer). I'm in pretty good position and figure on going for it. I get third and sit up to wait for the field and the two others keep going. I should have stayed with them as I have been in this posistion before and learned some valuable lessons. A lap later, they have flown the coop and I make an attempt to bridge taking Arc-En-Ceils Jeff Schwab with me. We'd work pretty well together, putting a nice gap on the main field and cutting the lead a little, but couldn't finish it off. After several laps of riding hard, Bill, Jon, Coleman O'Connor (NEBC) and Jean come up and we latch on. I needed a break, and had a really tough time pulling through. I figured to sit on the back for a few turns to get my legs back. Unfortunately, Jeff seemed to pop at that point and a gap opened up. I really thought he was going to close it and unfortunately when I realized that he wasn't, it was too late and I couldn't make it. BIG MISTAKE! We'd eventually get swallowed up by the field. Bill/Jon's group would catch the two guys up front and stay away the rest of the race.
With two to go, Al launches himself solo and gets a nice gap. A guy from Eastern Bloc and Colavita take a flyer with 1 1/4 laps to go and I quickly jumped on that. They were not too far behind Al, but I wasn't going to help them. They separated us nicely from the field and if they continued to work together they would have been in the money as we were 7, 8, 9 on the road. Unfortunately, they started playing games with a half lap to go and slowed up. I somehow ended up at the front and told them I was NOT going to chase down Al. They then went to the front and pulled, but the lost momentum cost them their due as we got caught on the final corner. Really stupid on their part, they should have kept on the gas. Al would just hold off the field for 6th place.
Up front, Bill attacked the final corner to gap the guys in the break and Jonny woofed the others in the sprint to finish one-two and put AFD on the podium for the first time this season.
In the cat 4 race, Rod would smoke the field getting an early prime. After a quick counter attack ensued, he would attempt to bring it back. After the hard effort, Rod St. Helens blew big time and would end up leaving the day for Ken and Rich. Three guys got away late and Rich got something like 4 in the field sprint to get 7th on the day and another top ten for AFD.
In the kiddie race, Erin Yabroudy was going to represent AFD with her pink bike complete with basket. The team issue jersey was a little big for her and was getting caught in the spokes, so she opted for a T-shirt instead. Big Daddy Bill was stressed pre-race as she blew off warming up on the turbo trainer instead opting to go play on the swingset just arriving at the course in time for the start of the race. She would medal in her season premire adding more palmares to the Yabroudy trophy case.