Anyway, fast forward a few miles and I am like 5 wheel getting ready for a right hander. Some dude decides that my plan of following the line of the 4 riders in front of me was the wrong plan and comes into me from the left. A few harrowing moments later he is shooting off the road through the grass and I make my turn. I am just glad we were locked brake hood to brake hood and that he did not hook my bars.. Anyway, I looked back and saw he was riding back to the group.
A little bit later (maybe 1 mile), the group of 4-5 up the road 20 seconds was moving ahead due to some low-class blocking on the narrow road. Anyway, I move through it and decided to try to bridge. Another young kid and I work together sort of.... he bridged up and I was left to drop back to the field. The field was in full pursuit by the time it reached me at the base of the 3rd hill. I moved through the field quickly and ended up OTB at 20 miles. I just rode it in with a few other victims of that hill (probably 25th-30th? of 50?). As for results, Brian was in the group at the end and figured he was 5th or 6th. John Schmidt from BYB (Memphis) won. He is real powerhouse if he can get over the climbs as he did today. I ride with him and his teammates all the time out there.
I did not hear much else in the way of results of note. Noah got a top 10 in the 5's.... The rest, I don't know.
So anyway, the TT is later this afternoon. I will get out my hotel in a little bit to start preping for that. The crit tomorrow will be the focus at this point. May even double up... :-S Cat 4 -> 30+ right after. Maybe that is too much. I will make that call in the morning.
The course was such that if you were 10 seconds off the back, they pulled you. I only got to ride for 15 minutes or so....but that was good enough for 15th out of 30? My excuses began with a bad start (50 yds of riding on top of my right pedal not clipped in) to getting gapped behind a bad cornerner.....but utimately it comes to down to myself. It took me way to too long to get around that guy.... I have come a long way, but still have a some to go. It *IS* possible to salvage a season at the mid-point. I will do my damnest to make that happen. And there is always 'cross.....
The one bonus of my getting pulled was it gave me a chance to watch the race unfold. Steve, Brian, and AJ did a great job on this race.
As for the course, I don't know why they did not just try to straighten out the double turn. I think with some creative routing, it might be possible to eliminate the first two turns leaving only the finishing turn. That being said, the course was one big ball of nerves on every corner especially trying to move up.