It was a cold and rainy Saturday. We had to get up at 4:30 and make the drive up to Lake Sunapee. Jon and I were complaining the whole way up. A couple of times it really started raining and we were tempted to turn around and go home. But, we trudged forward into the hills of NH. Billy and Al would join us up north for the race. Jon and I were not very motivated and pretty much hung out in the van talking about how dumb we were as rain showers came and went. Bill was warming up on the trainer under cover of the ski lodge porch. Our warm up consisted of blasting the heat in the van and putting Borne warm up stuff on our legs. We rolled out of the van and headed to the line in true Al Potter fashion. In fact, Al was already at the line as we rolled up to hear the officials yell. "One minute!". Some cat 3's would roll through because they were late to there start and would probably have a long day. Chasing. They were better off just hanging out with us for the day.
The attacks began early with Jon, I just got out of the car so I might as well roll of the front, Babington instigating a few attacks. I'd jump on a few guys attempting to get across once in a while. Bill was waiting for the road to go up (surprise). Al was hanging out waiting till later. I'd attack a couple of times and usually get caught just before a climb and suffer like a pig barely hangning onto the back of the field as Billy lead them over single file. The climbs were not long enough to snap the rubber band though and the field would quickly regroup. A few guys would drop off each time and probably have a miserable wet ride the rest of the race.
Finally, a couple of miles from the end of the first lap, we hit a short riser. Not too steep or long. It's my sort of climb where I can still turn it over and get some speed. As we got close enough to the top where I could make it there before I blew, I went hard at the same time as Peter Sleight (Eurotek). I was surprised at the size of the gap at the top and we kept it going. After a few miles a CCB rider would bridge (Jon said it was Mikael Elliasson) to us and we got a good rythym going. Peter was riding really strong and encouraging us. Mikael was struggling on the uphills, but in hindsight he was probably a bit tired from bridging because on one hill he just sort of rode away from us. He was about 5 seconds ahead of us and we were tired. We slowed a bit, expecting the field to catch us, but it didn't reel us in, so we decided to have a go of it and get back to the leader. We were getting him back when he peeled off with a flat.
At this point in time, CCB went to the front and put on a chase. D'oh! We hit the last real climb of the race and I was doing fine, but my darn chain kept skipping in a couple of gears that I would have prefered to climb in. It had been annoying me for quite a while but I had just gone to a smaller gear and spun up the hills a little slower than I'd like, but I usually made it. Peter got a slight gap on my as I fiddled my gears. I decided to go with a bigger gear this time and power it up ala Jonny B. Big mistake. I bogged down sooooo bad, I thought I was going to fall over. Instantly, Peter put a couple of seconds on me as I am frantically downshifting and starting turning over the crank again. I made it over the top and was about 5 seconds behind him and started to chase, but the field caught me on a short riser and I drifted into oblivion almost getting dropped from the field. No way was that going to happen cuz I didn't want to ride the last 5 miles alone in the cold which woulda taken me an hour. I sucked it up and moved back up through the field. Peter was still about 5 seconds up the road on the CCB lead peloton when McKone (CCB) shoots out of the field like a rocket (When seeing how distinctive his tan lines were after the race, one can understand). He go on to win the race and Peter would hang onto his wheel and be towed to second place. D'OH!!! If I just coulda hung tough a little longer!!!! Drat, Frig, Blast! Oh well, live and learn.
The last couple of miles were pretty easy going as no one was really offering a chase. Al jumped off the front once and I went forward to patrol the front of the field. He didn't have the normal ooomph I usually see. The cold/wet weather can do that. I was muttering under my breath, "FASTER". But alas, he didn't really have it. I'm getting ancy again and know that the uphill finish is going to kill me with all the effort I put in, so I go to the front and pull wicked hard for the last mile or so stringing out the field and blasting through the rotary before swinging wide and waving goodbye to the guys as they go flying past. Bill and Jon were up there, but Jon faded in the end and Bill got 7th.
I was torqued at myself for letting one slip away, but as our old teamate Crazy Jean used to say, "...another 2x4 in the house of fitness".
As a consolation, NH State Liquor store had a 20% sale on Australian wines...