After missing a great race last week, I was excited to toe the line this week with a solid group of racers. After racing twice before, my mind and body knew fully well what I was about to endure. With a sick daughter at home, I've been quite low on sleep. I asked my race strategists, Simon and Mandy, what I should do this week. Knowing I was tired, they told me to sit in for 2 laps and go hard up the climb the 3rd time. So that's what I did.
The race started quite civilized, and I took the hole shot. At the bottom of the descent I had a slight gap on MG, and a bit more on 3rd and 4th place. Since I wanted to sit in, I let MG slot into the front. But then Ian, a new racer, came ripping by. I hopped on his wheel over the flats, and slid back into first with a short effort up the last pitch. By the end of the 2nd descent it was just me and Mark, and we cruised up the climb. We noticed Sean chasing and gave it a little extra gas on the flat to maintain a small gap, which ended up being unnecessary since he crashed and lost a few seconds just a bit later. At the bottom of the descent I had a couple seconds on MG, and having been instructed to go hard the 3rd time up the climb, I did just that. Then I rode the rest of the laps maintaining a fine little gap. It was fun.
