I came, I rode, I finished. This was the 3rd running of this great event in Frankenmuth, MI and the second installment of my official road race experience. The course is significantly flatter than last weeks Tour of Kensington Valley and without any pre-ride I really had no idea what I was in for. Weather conditions were cold with intermittent rain and there was very little wind. After several clothing revisions I chose to spin on the trainer in the parking lot versus riding around. This was a good choice and I felt pretty loose. In hindsight, I was glad the conditions were cool. My class (Cat 5) had 73 riders in it and the group was split in half at the start line. The first group with bib numbers from 500-535 started 3 minutes in front of us.
We were finally off and the group headed out of town on a series of open country roads with very few turns. The group stayed together and I found myself settling in midway in the pack and exerting very little energy in the process. I also found myself constently adjusting my position in the pack to keep from getting boxed in while doing my best to avoid crossing the yellow line. The first lap was completed without incident and I had a pretty good feel for the course. Halfway through the 2nd lap the pack made contact with the first group of Cat 5's and as we swept them up many of these riders managed to latch on and in the process, double the size of our group. I felt good and found I was able to match the accelerations of the group without blowing up and my legs did not feel heavy. Aaron and I were exchanging positions throughout the entire race. If I saw him up the road I would accelerate to keep him near. By doing so, I ensured my position near the front and hopefully provided some support to my teammate. About 3/4 of way around lap 2 I heard the faint sound of tires rubbing together off to my immediate left and saw the rider next to me go down hard followed by a series of terrible crashing noises. I did not look back and when I saw Aaron reappear on my left I was grateful that we had avoided the mayhem. It was like a slap in the face and the sound of the crash was sobering. Soon after, Aaron and I were pretty well positioned near the front of the pack and we had a decent pace line going with several of the race leaders as we approached town. As we hit the smooth pavement at the one mile mark the pace accelerated and I was trying to hang on and get into position for the finish. On the contrary, I soon found myself boxed in on the roller leading up to the downhill before the finish and saw Aaron hugging the right side of the road. He had great position. Meanwhile, I was having some difficulty getting a good draft off some of the other riders as we were all spread out but I managed to get around a few just before the line. I need to work on my sprint skills.
Today I learned a few more things about road racing:
1. Pre-ride the course, make notes on key areas of the course and clearly know where the finish line is.
2. Have a strategy for the finish.
3 Ride smart and go like hell in the stretch.
Initial results showed me in 13th place and Aaron in 6th. We realized several in the finishing group had started 3 minutes ahead of us and once the event organizers revised the results I had finished in 6th whilst Aaron took 3rd! Freakin awesome experience. Overall, the team had a fantastic showing today. PARTY!
