This race was 180 deg change from last year. We’ll actually about 40 deg since temps were in the 60’s this time. We had strong tailwinds out and headwinds coming back. Really this was a very strange race. It started out with about 35 racers. Missing were a couple VOS guys that generally set brutal paces on the climbs. VOS had one representative who broke away before the turn-around. Larry was also there without any team mates. The going out half was good. The climbs were not too hard and as the pace line strung out approaching the turnaround I made sure I was close enough to the front to not get dropped like last year.
To my great surprise the pack practically stopped after turning into the wind letting VOS and someone else develop a nice breakaway. If Morgan Stanley had someone in the break we probably would have never caught them. I think Larry was the first to try and get the group going but no one would pass him to pull. He nearly came to a stop before the pack would pass. Too funny. From there out it was surge real hard then go real slow. At times I thought I might get dropped then it was slow again. Since there was no organized chase it became a series of attack and respond. At one point I heard go Bill, must have been Larry, so I grabbed the wheel on an attack. For a while I thought maybe this could work but then came Larry and the pack. Worked in a couple more attacks which proved to be a good workout as my legs were very tired last night.
With 4k to go the race was stopped for a crash and a helicopter transport. We were just about to catch the break so they got a short lead on the restart. This gave everyone a change to rest for the upcoming sprint, which Larry won. I came in 11th. Definitely need more sprint practice but one mistake I made was not jumping soon enough or hard enough. Overall I was glad I stuck with the lead group.
Bill