My race report from the Rehearsal Road Race today:

Whew that was fun!

The first two laps were spent sputtering along with no one willing to do work at the front. Team O had a big turnout and major props to Andrew, Larry, and Alan, for going to the front and mixing things up. The third lap I drilled it up the steep climb immediately following the sharp sketchy off-camber left hand downhill turn. I made some people hurt a bit and was able to confirm that my legs were feeling every bit as good as I thought they might be. After another lap with the backside at an exceedingly slow pace, the descent with the headwind had a couple minor attacks, but nothing that was hard to cover.

In the last several kilometers, Pat and I got ourselves up to the front, and with just over 1k to go Pat and I were both on the front of the race just before hitting the base of the final climb. I decided that wasn’t going to work, so I jumped on the flat section just before the climb. I figured I’d either get away and try to stay away up the climb or I’d take everyone with me – #2 was what happened. Pat and I played the climb nearly perfectly – he went from the base of the climb hard, and I found myself sitting 3rd with Joe (Veloce)and Pat in front of me – so I sat up. That gave Pat and Joe a good 25 yard gap at one point, and Joe died off and it was only Pat up the road. I found myself really nicely set up as a result sitting 6th wheel or so, and as Pat started to get caught at about 200 meters to go I went for it and came around 3rd place with about 50 meters to go.

I missed first by just over a bike length, and if I’d had another 50-100 yards I probably could have won the race, as the guy who won was starting to fade and I was still going strong. I’m very happy with 2nd though, and my legs felt absolutely amazing today.