A rather small group this evening, 21 racers. Several riders have moved the B race, and I think we’re all a bit happier for that, as the pace is a bit more reasonable and even over the course of the race.

Less action this week, with fewer attempted breaks. I took a few pulls at the front, included a rather hair-brained move with 2 laps to go (I thought, maybe, with the guys I went with, it might stick, but no such luck, given that this is a corollary of the any-break-I’m-in-is-doomed-to-fail maxim). This left me getting passed by most of the group, and then spending too much energy on the last lap getting back into position for the sprint. I will say I positioned better than previous weeks, so I had a fairly clean line to finish line, and I passed a few people and ended up 12th. Yeah, no points, but oh well. At least taking a pull or two is more fun than sitting on a wheel in the back of the group.

One moment of excitement–I lost a contact about halfway through the race. I am, as they say, blind as a bat, and this made the race a bit more, ummm, exciting, as I had to quickly assess how close I really was to the wheel in front of me. Time to start wearing glasses, I think.

Other observations:

• Several times, a portion of the group would swing wide and high in the back corner and then DIVE into the turn, nearly taking out those of us that would prefer the shorter line.
• Related to the previous observation, some people don’t like to pull. Now, I’ll suck wheels with the best of them, but if you don’t want to at least take a pull, however short, don’t move to the front. Related to this, if the guy currently pulling swings off to the right, uh, that means he’s probably done with that pull. Don’t follow him into the high side of the corner.
• I am not quite strong enough yet to take a serious pull at the front and not really burn the wick at both ends. I think I can be more active at the start of the race and sit in for the last few laps to regain some energy, though, and still have a shot at a good placing.

The Fort Cherry road race is on Sunday. My goal is to last a single lap with the main group.

Posted on 15 July 2008