Hey Team…this one was a complete team effort!
The course was an 8-mile loop, we did 6-laps, which had a lot of patched pavement and was much more hilly than advertised on the website with a 10-12% WALL approximately half way through the lap and a 1k climbing finish…centerline in effect…~25 riders in the pack starting out, we have the largest team represented.
Our plan starting out was to get Todd into a winning break…plans change 
)
Lap 1
The start was on the uphill finish and as we rolled onto the course BC was on the front with myself, Matt and Rick 3-across and Todd/Brad right behind us…I wanted to start pretty easy because we had no idea what was ahead of us so I was climbing about 8-12mph…Rick was setting a faster pace and I told Matt to let him go and see if anyone went after him…no one did/could because BC was blocking across the road…very interesting no one from behind us said anything and I was “well lets see how big a gap Rick can get”…in another ¼ mile he was gone out of sight-out of mind. New plan: see if Rick can solo for the win from 47.5 miles to go. Matt, Brad and I kept riding “easy” letting the gap grow for the entire first lap. Just before the SF line, Brad’s crank cracks…see photo and he is out.
Lap 2
As we came across the SF line, a couple of people behind us started asking if there was anyone off the front….according to Matt no one was ). We kept rolling now watching for any attacks and I’m talking to Todd about being vigilant about anyone going off the front and that he should go with anyone that does.
Lap 3
A couple of guys go off the front after the SF line and are about 100 yards off the front when Todd jumps and bridges up and flys on past…so now we have 2 BC guys off the front and we absorb one of the other guys (I thought we had gotten both of them). The WALL is really starting to bite and we are now loosing guys off the back, Matt and I are hurting staying with the front 2-3 riders on all laps.
Lap 4
A Davis guy goes off the front after the SF line and I’m thinking let him go we still have 2:1 ratio assuming he can bridge up to Rick and Todd and 3 have a better chance of staying away than 2 do…I’m still expecting the main group to put in a serious chase. The WALL is really hurting now…but everyone sits up and goes easy at the top each time allowing me to recover…nice of them )
Lap 5
Brad tells us there is a good gap and that BC has a good lead ahead…Matt and I stay in the top 4riders around the course…shutting down all break attempts…not that there are any serious one left, we are all suffering. The moto ref tells us there is a 3-min gap to the next rider ahead of us…not sure which rider it is though so we don’t chase…not that we were feeling like chasing anyway.
Lap 6
I’m now thinking about the finish and how we can set it up for either Matt or myself…there are 5 of us that are still riding “strong” and another 4-5 riders bouncing off and on the group depending on climbs vs. descents. At the bottom of the WALL one of the riders yells and almost falls over as his calf cramps out…Matt starts cramping at about the ¾ mark on the WALL…I’m just trying not to think about cramping and how to just fall over without getting run over. A guy gets off the front on the wall and Matt, myself and two Funsport guys, one of which has been riding strong on the front the whole time, start chasing. I take my first pull of the day going down a hill trying to keep the other 4-5 guys off our tails and trying not to let the other guy off the front get too big a gap on us (I’m pretty sure he has gone too early)…Matt takes a pull and then it’s the Funsport team pulling going into the bottom of the last 1-k climb. The guy off the front is 200-meters ahead and keeps looking back. The remaining Funsport guy makes up about 100-meters on the guy ahead but then gets blown just before a small kicker…I decide now or never and bridge up to the guy on the front with about 250-meters to go…he is pretty much blown by the time I get there and I get out of the saddle for the last 200-meters, look back and have a good gap by 100-meters to go mark and sit back down and go easy to the line….owwwww!
Lessons:
- be flexible with your race plan
- Have strong riders on your team that can ride off the front for miles by themselves )
- like last week, keep digging when you think you are done
Next week: Berkeley Hills RR Go Team!!
Rob