Race For Alex

Weather was the story today. Muggy and warm made the race course feel like a sauna. A tough rolling course that had headwinds, slow corners, railroad track (very bumpy) and a fairly steep uphill grind to the start finish about 400 yards out of the last corner. Dave Steiner, Tom Keller and I were representing for Snake Bite Racing in the Cat 2/3 combined race. In the race were some strong riders like Batke, Tris, Weeks, Quinlan, Cioccio, Lowry and lots of diffferent jerseys like Trizilla, UPMC, RGF, MVC, Torelli, etc. It was looking like it was going to be fast and right from the gun down the descent we hit 39mph and it took a 800+ watt surge to catch back on. The early part of the race saw Quinlan solo off the front. I saw a couple opportunities and shot off the front with others hoping to bridge but all came back quickly. One thing about the Cat. 2/3 versus Cat.4 is how fast they can move to close down attacks!! Like a light switch youve got a big gap and then 10 seconds later you see 30 guys about to catch you. The best breakaway attempt occured after Dave Steiner jumped off the front and I went with him. This strung out the field a bit and when I saw Batke and two others jump I decided to go. Again we quickly had a big gap and I urged one rider to pull through, but it was evident he didnt want to work so we slowed. Bummer because I would have worked my tail off in that one. These attacks occured all race long with some twosies and threesies stayiong away for awhile. I am really hurting at this point, but when I was fairly recovered I would jump when I had to and on the bell lap Tom Keller took off and I again went with. When I bridged solo I took a turn as we were trying to bridge two guys and hopefully take it to the line with 4. Again, it was unsuccesful and I thought I was done after that. I was no longer in my usual top 5-10 as I had been most of the race and the speed through the last two sections between corners would have made moving up difficult, especially as fried as I felt. I was mid pack when we went through the last corner and to my anger and suprise I really launched out of the last corner and started to pick off guys all the way up the hill. I hit 130 rpm, 34 mph in an uphill sprint!!!. I was mad because I didnt position myself like I had in all the previous races and I think I could have nailed a top 10 and maybe even a top 5 had I had my usual top 5 position. Thats easy to say now of course because I am not doing 500 to 800 watt surges just hanging on through the last few miles. We also avergaed 25.2 mph the last lap. Tom Keller finished 10th for SBR and I came in 13th while Quinlan stayed away the entire race!! We averaged 24.5 mph so you can imagine what Quinlan did by himself!! So a good race again for SBR and I am content with my finish in my first Cat.2/3 race in over 15 years.
http://www.teammvc.com/raceforalex07.pdf