Union Grove Race Report
This race was another one of those “fun” races for me. The 50+ had Jay, Kevin, Bruce and myself against an onslaught of Guy’s and Era (late additions). The race started with Bob Kehl (Guy’s, last year’s BAR winner) shooting off at the gun (whistle)! The way he went off you thought he knew something rest of us didn’t. He lasted barely a lap by himself.
The strategy for Mainline was for Kevin and I to make our contributions early and to ride near the front in the early laps making sure nothing big got away. I guess I need Kevin (MLC team captain and my coach) to keep telling me that front doesn’t mean WAY out front. On lap 2 I was able to just ride away and get a good gap. Guy’s and Era reacted with Rich Cordero and Bill Care joining. Now the three of us had our teams representing half the pack blocking for us. Unfortunately for me I was one power hill short of staying away with these two. After I got dropped and caught by the pack, our pack was caught by the Cat 4’s (started 1 min behind us 50+ guys) and we had to STOP! by the roadside and let them by!! Of course, I’m standing there wishing I could have stayed with the break, damn. You guessed it, with their efforts and neutralize advantage, they had the winning break!
Once the Guy’s and Era knew the break was going to stick the pack went from a brief pleasant stroll to serious racing and I got to watch from my normal position. One of these days, I hope in the not to distant future, I’m going to be able to take advantage of pack letting me go.
Posted: May 21st, 2007 under Bicycle Racing.
Tags: cycling, racing