Body Concepts Inc

San Ardo RR 8-22-09

This was a great trip…got to stay on the beach in Monterey 3-days, had some great food in Carmel and got to do a new race!

The race was a little more hilly than last weeks and hardly any wind which was nice. The course was 2-laps of 21-miles for our category of Masters 45+ 4/5 (I think it should have been one more lap). There was a little attacking on the second lap and I almost made it off the front with a group of 4-riders in the “hills” but we got caught quickly. Being the first time on this course, I was not overly ambitious with the attacking and ok with sitting in. The biggest excitement for most of the race was our moto-ref who was a little “out to lunch” almost causing one crash by stopping in the middle of the road to talk to a van coming the other way on a downhill.

So the finishing lap was coming to an end as we entered the “town” of San Ardo… when the moto-ref “neutralized” our field with less than a mile to the finish line so that a group of “3′s” could come by…the 3′s sat up as soon as they went by blocking our race just as we were coming through town. A loud “discussion” erupted until we were finally let by as we crossed the bridge leading into the climbing finish. I was ~20 riders back in the group as we crossed the bridge and started up the hill…everyone was going hard and popping left and right as we climbed toward the overpass. I was on the centerline side getting boxed in until the guy next to me blew and disappeared. I was then able to surge up the right side of the lane. Up ahead there were 3-guys with about a 20-foot gap off the front as we went under the overpass. I kicked hard to bridge up to them catching them just as we turned left off the road into the ~200-meter finishing section. I was pretty darn tired by then and “rested” on the wheel of the 3rd rider for the first 50-meters which was still a slight upgrade before leveling out. At that point I was talking to myself trying to find the energy to get out of the saddle and sprint. Knowing that my wife Linda was at the finish, I got out of the saddle and sprinted up the right side of the road as the guy in 3rd went left. I was digging hard trying to visualize Mark C. finishes in the Tour…I could hear Linda screaming to “go Rob” … I finished second, about a bike and a half out of first place. Crossing the finish line I about fell off my bike I was so wasted…but the pain always dissappears quickly when you’ve done your best.

Matt finished 8th…he said later that he had tried to follow my line and was the next rider behind me (5th) going through the last corner, but several feet behind. He had two guys go by him right at the line and will focus on finishing out of the saddle next race.

We definitely plan to do this race again next year…hopefully with 2-3 team mates to liven things up…breakaway?

Our next race is Henleyville on September 19th…never done this race so we’ll see

Don’t forget that Cyclebration (www.folsomcyclebration.com) is September 11-13th…come and play!!! We are running the Folsom Challenge Criterium Saturday the 12th…if you would like to volunteer as a course martial, you get a free entry into the Crit and T-shirt!

Rob

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