Winning when Finishing Dead Last

I just got my upgrade approved Monday to Cat 3.  So I wasted no time in trying a 123 race.  

I hit up the Augusta Training Series A race tonight. And I was DFL.

Yep Dead F&@&### Last and proud of it.

The race starts out with all the guys doing a teammate check. Who's with who and how many they have. Montclair Cyclery had 4 or 5 guys and Finkraft had a few. The pace was pretty chill at first  and I was easily hanging around 4th or 5th for the majority of the first half of the race.  

There were a few jumps but I covered them hoping I could get in a break. But nothing developed and I was just working against the Montclair crew who kept sending guys and blocking aggressively.

A huge difference in the A race is how close they race. The race gets bunched up tight and then explodes over and over.

I see a break go and the 4th one was the charm. I was boxed in right and it went left. Things change so fast. With Montclair blocking as they had a man on the break I tried to bridge. And I went alone but just couldn't make it. Gfx finally pulled the rest of the group up to me as I just couldn't get there. And off they rode with blocking in force.

 
 

The blocking was really effective and only 2 or 3 of us were trying to fight it. They were good at making sure they were 2nd wheel or first at all times. I wasn't going to settle sprinting for 9th place. So I spent the next 20 minutes reeling it back.  I spent the majority of the time pulling and just killed myself. 

With 3 to go I was close and they just pulled further away. But at 1 to go I knew they would be jockeying so I just put my head down and went hard. And sure enough I caught them right on the last turn before the hill. Unfortunately I was done but they didn't get away.  

The whole group came back together for a bunch sprint.

Booyah. Shows you to never give up on a race. Montclair tried so hard to stop me but I found a way to push through.  

Next week I'll try again and maybe the break will go right instead of left.  

Recommended

Previous
Previous

Rock The Ridge 50 Mile Endurance Challenge 2015 by Ben Nephew

Next
Next

The North Face 50k Endurance Challenge 2015 "Rotten" by Amy Hanlon