Posted by Dan on 2. June 2010 15:49
The third and final race of the long weekend took us to downtown Fayetteville for the Patriots Crit. It rained last year and the tight fourth corner and pavers caused quite a bit of havoc in the Masters 35+ 4/5 race. I took 3rd after a majority of the field crashed on the bell lap. Slim chance for rain so this race should be good. Steve M. drove down to take part in the holiday festivities and make our team much more intimidating. With 17 total riders, only Full Spectrum Racing could match our numbers.
From the whistle, the pack took off like a shot, leaving all three of us behind when we all failed to clip in. Frank was the first in and got to chasing. I was second and took after Frank. Steve followed suit. After a lap or two, the pace calmed and we latched back on. After another lap or so, I tried to bridge to a solo rider with a small gap. I was quickly shut down. I moved to the front and slowed up a bit and Frank took off, successfully making it up to the rider. The two of them stayed away for at least 5 laps as Rick Kirby of Cross Creek Cycling worked by himself to bring them back in. He'd flick his elbow and look back, only to see me shrug and say I can't work. He understood, but wasn't happy. After awhile, Frank drifted back to the pack, giving me the green light to help Rick reel in the break. We caught him and sent him to the back, then kept the pace manageable. I attacked again and was shut down again. This would be the case for the rest of the race.
I've concluded that the reason no one would let me get away was my socks. I wore my bright red GamJams socks, awarded to me last weekend at Sleepy Hole Smackdown for placing 2nd in the Masters race. I'm fairly certain that those socks only make it into circulation as prizes and that everyone knows this and pays particular attention to those socks. Anyone wearing them is a threat and cannot be allowed to go. It's a very clever ploy and one that I'll not fall for again. As I type type this, I'm bleaching them within an inch of their lives in hopes no one would bother chasing pink socks. Stay tuned to see how this pans out.
I resigned myself to working with Rick to chase down whatever happened to get off the front. Had he been able to break, I'd have joined him and I'm sure the two of us could have made it, but the timing was never right. So I chased break after break and kept things intact as best I could.
With 4 to go, one rider soloed off the front, opening a gap of 15 seconds. I turned myself inside out reducing the gap down to roughly 5 seconds and finally gave up with 1 to go, turning chase duties over to Rick. I drifted to the back and got ready for the sprint. While not completely exhausted, I couldn't move up the way I wanted and consequently went into corners 3 and 4 on or near the back. I sat up and coasted in, taking 9th. Frank, on the other hand, took a tight line through corner 4 and wound up on the wheel of the Rick who had gone wide then quickly moved right. Frank held on as the two rocketed toward the rider off the front. The C4 rider took the win by a wheel-length while Frank took 3rd. Steve finished in 15th.
And with that our race weekend came to an end. We collected Frank's winnings, loaded up the Subaru and headed for home. Many thanks to Cross Creek Cycling Club, Fayetteville and Wade, NC for playing host to a mob of unruly cyclists. We'll see you all next year, if we can remember.
Yeah, I just said that.