With that said, I take a 1/2 lap to get a good warm up in as I know the race will be face paced from the gun with the likes of who showed up. A pace line forms quickly and I am about in 9th place as we dive right down a short hill and head for the single track. My teammate Dave Moore is right in front of me, he offers me his place in line just before we hit the sweet single ribbon of dirt thru the woods...I politely decline and we are on our way.
Shortly after I am regretting my decision as the first six guys slowly pull away. There is no place to pass and I am relegated to letting the lead pack go away. No worries, this is all for fun. As we hit the first open area I make my pass and I am all alone. I see one of the guys has fallen off the pace of the lead group and I slowly count the space between him and I and it's roughly 1 minute. I do some quick deductions and it will be hard for me to make up the time in this short of a race, but I try nonetheless.
As we weave in and out of the turns, berms and valleys I get the false sense I am closer to the one in front of me, but I don't let if fool me and keep pushing the pedals. My goal is try to catch him before the finish line with a few hard efforts, I am unable to bridge the gap. As I look behind me I am making some good time on the people I started the race with. Although I don't know this for sure, but the fact that I can't see them is a pretty good sign that I am. I keep the pace to the end, just to keep my intended 'hard work out' in tact.
I end up finishing in 49:44, 2nd place in the Advanced 40+ group. Bernie Wendel and I are the only cats on single speeds in the group and it's fun to mix it up with all the gears and suspension and what not!
The next race in this series is Wednesday, May 11, another good weekday night for a race...and some fun!
Go ride.
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