Fort Ord/Districts

In spite of the championship designation, this was a pretty -meh- race in the 4's. With 10 miles of rolling terrain, one steep 3 minute power climb about 2 miles from the finish, and nothing but grey skies until the last 1/2 hour, the field seemed to acquiesce to the fact that the 'big' climb was by far the most decisive feature of the course, and there wasn't much action anywhere else. 

The second time up the climb 3 guys gave it full gas and got a decent gap: I was conserving a bit, but I thought they looked strong so I left the pack to bridge, and then rotated with the other 3 to get something like a 15 second gap - not huge, but it had potential. However, at that point, one of the guys got a flat, which shouldn't have been a problem because 3 is still a good number for a break, but the other two seemed to develop a mental block, wondering if they should keep going or give up. I yelled at them to leave him and keep rotating, but they seemed to have already lost the mentality to keep it moving; so, we were caught. 

Another attack went in either the 3rd or 4th lap when a dude in some kind of generic blue/white team jersey (yeah, that sponsor's message is getting through...) jumped away on the riser before the descent (which is before the climb), and was followed by a Cyclopath rider (there's a sponsor whose name sticks with you.) They held a little gap all the way up the climb, but then started to extend it after the top; seeing the potential, I took off and tried to bridge, but my jump was too weak so I ended up towing the group back most of the way. Another match burned...

There was one more attack worth noting, on the 5th lap, when one of the juniors racing as a 4 decided to attack exactly where no one would see it coming -- just as we hit the feed zone! I guess he didn't realize this would draw the ire of every thirsty racer in the pack, and we wasted no time in chasing him down -- but, once it was sorted, I looked back and saw there was a decent (and exploitable) split in the pack. I gave a solid pull on the front, and so did one of the BBC guys, but other motivated riders could not be found, and the pack re-coagulated. 

Anyways, we get to the climb on the last lap and this Cyclopath guy just hammers it up the base, and everyone goes nuts trying to stay on his wheel because that's what they always do, and I let them go and pace myself because that's what I always do. Two-third's of the way up I was leading the remainder of the pack up the climb, but I just couldn't close the gap to Mr. Cyclopath, nor could I create more than a tiny gap on the pack behind me, so I eased up a little and got the chase started after the crest. 

 

We got very, very close to closing that gap but it just didn't happen, and the strongest guy won, in the most unimaginative way possible. I ended up getting 4th in the bunch sprint of the 15 or 20 guys left - the best I've ever done in a 'big' sprint, I think. Got my final upgrade point, too, so I'm finally ready to take that AV jersey to the cat 3's. Great success! 

However, I can't help thinking that was the least motivated field I've ever seen, and I'm going to go ahead and blame it on the cold, grey weather (without proof, naturally). Maybe next year they'll take it to Los Altos?