Trying to learn from the previous races, I started right on the line so I would be in the front. Unfortunately I couldn't clip in again, and ended back at the back. My foot also slipped off the pedal and managed the gash my achilles area, but adrenaline kept the pain away mostly until the end.
In lap 1 a small break got up the road, and Aaron managed to get into it. That wasn't to last long and the pack reeled them in. On the second lap, everything stayed together, but a hard effort up the hill started to see things spread out by the top of the climb at the end of the lap. On lap 3 a small break got away including Gaelen, and our new recruit Adam Bird was up there as well. I missed this because I lost a wheel in the crosswinds and was pushing to join back into the pack. The next lap, the peloton split again by the top of the hill and I ended up in the back group with Bryan and Tanner, and Aaron made the front group. The three of us worked well in our small group to keep the pace up as we could still see the group ahead, so we didn't want to give up. After a couple of laps, we managed to catch the group that had ditched us on the hill earlier, containing Aaron. No one really wanted to work in this group. We rode a lap with them, and I found I was on the front way to much for a group of about 15. I told my teammates that we should peg it up the hill which would get rid of the people not wanting to work, and maybe excite the pack to want to work. When we went on the hill, I heard something along the lines "they are all matching!" from a spectator. I looked around and it was only us! We had some people cheering for us at the top of the climb. We did a four person team time trial for a little over a lap before Ed Veal bridged up to us, bringing two other riders. At this point Aaron had dropped off because he was cramping up. About a quarter of a lap later, we unfortunately caught Adam, who had been dropped from the front group. At this point we had just over a lap left. We knew we would have to send someone up the road with Veal wanting to sit in, and the 2 guys he brought with him looking fresh. Bryan did a flyer on the back stretch and no one followed. Shortly after, Tanner tried to go too, but the Toronto Hustle guy bridged over and tried to chase down Bryan. At this point I was spent, and was just sitting in, or taking a short pull. Bryan ended up finishing just behind the Toronto Hustle rider, Bradford. Adam, Tanner and I finished together, with our legs smashed.
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| Aaron sticking with the Veal group |
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| Adam making his group work up the hill |
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| Tanner, Bryan and I at the top of the hill. We seemed to do most of the pulling up to the hill, so we were the last up the hill. |
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| Adam with the big guns |
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| Me suffering up the last part of the hill |
We finished with a best placed rider 18th. Ideally would have liked to have someone in the top 10, but looking at the racer list, that still was a good result. Almost everyone on the results sheet above us was a category 1 racer (minus Jordann Jones and Dan Doddy, who both are super strong and should be). Most of the cat 2 racers didn't finish this race. So being a cat 2 team, I think we ended up doing good! Now we will look to find ways to sneak someone up there in that results sheet before seasons end!
Also, I have to give a big thanks to my brother Jesse for giving up his day to be in the feed zone for us!
Watch the STRAVA flybys here to see how/when things unfolded in the race: HERE
Results: here
Garmin data: here
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