Even though it was early, it was nice to be in a warm car at 7 am and not on my bike, freezing and looking at Bill and Chris’ [backsides] riding to the ride (the joke of the day was wondering what time Bill left to ride to the race) though I did have to eat Roy’s dust, literally, for about 4 miles on the, as it was advertised, “short” section of unpaved road on the way there.
Beautiful day in the valley, mid 60’s and it was nice to race without a ton of clothing exposing my Englishman-like pale skin (sorry, laddies). Any thought about the first race being a bit easy quickly disappeared as we hammered from the start (glad I did a 15 mile warm up). The two turn-arounds which were at the top of long rises were pretty wicked, from ½ mph to 35 mph just like that. It was a typical Masters (55+) race, fast, but even paced with sensible riding, no yelling, no brakes, no crashes, no squirrely riding, and, aside from the turn-arounds, no slow and then fast. I stayed up front most of the time hoping to get into a break but none materialized, the pace was too high. One started to get away and I quickly road up to it, pulling 20 of my closest friends along as well. I felt great the whole race, despite the frostbite those early mornings rides did pay off (thanks Chris and Bill). Unfortunately for me the only time we slowed was the last three kilometers when the pace let up and everyone got back on, so the pack hit the last hill together. I had hoped it would have remained fast and strung out, but not to be, so it was a mass sprint up the hill, I was near the front but faded to 9th. All in all it was a great day and worth the trip. Lesson for the day, if you want a break, start one. It will be nice to race in the future with my teammates in the 45+ 1,2,3’s.