Not long after we found our way, Shannon and Vince showed up. Then while we were waiting for our start time, out of nowhere Verm comes rolling up. He was hurting from a crazy P90 workout, but couldn't resist coming out. Nice. He must have taken rule #5 to heart!
When our start time came, we all lined up right in the front, on the line. I figured we'd hang near the front of the pack and save up for later. What was I thinking? When they told us to go, Vince immediately took the lead. I followed. I took a turn or two and so did others, but it never took long for Vince to end up back out front. Madman! This continued for the entire race.
The pack was tight at times and we were constantly jockeying for position. While I had to fend off numerous attempts by people to push their way back into the pace line, I didn't really feel like I had any close calls. ...that is until I managed to nearly take out both Vince and I. A good way into the run, Vince decided to break away from the pack and I followed. We came around near the start finish line and apparently a couple of the faster guys decided to attack back. As one of them came around us, Vince stood and started chasing. As I saw Vince's wheel pulling away from me, I stood and cranked hard too. At that point I think he had decided to pull to the side and back off a bit. The next thing I new I was running over his back wheel. Sorry Vince! I've earned my first Sandy.
A couple of laps in, Verm came flying around and took the lead. He gave the pack a strong pull, but I think this + P90 was his undoing. I saw Mitch at the beginning of the race and then at the end. Apparently he was never far behind, just stalking the pack and saving it for the end. Shannon was also running a smart race. Always near the front, but saving that can o' whoop ass for later.
When they showed the 2 laps to go sign, I saw that Shannon was just in front of me. I jumped on his wheel knowing that he'd be headed to the front. He made his way through and up to Vince and the three of us stayed close. With about half a lap to go, Vince and Shannon picked it up. I just held on. Going into the last couple of turns, Shannon opened it up and we broke away from the pack. I have no idea how much of a gap we had, I was too busy to look back. Going into the last turn I started accelerating harder and tried to carry as much speed as possible. As we hit the final straight away I passed, stood and started cranking as hard as I could. I was getting pretty close to the finish line when I caught 2 guys out of the side of my eye. I realized the first guy had too much momentum to do anything with, but I thought I could hold off the 2nd guy. He managed to edge me out too. 3rd place for me (totally handed to me by Vince and Shannon). I think Shannon and Vince took 4th/5th or 6th/7th. I'm not sure. I believe Mitch pulled off 9th.
A great time and a great showing for Team BRCM!!! Many thanks to Vince and Shannon for setting up the final sprint. Next time I'll help lead someone else out for the sprint. Rich, I think you're up to bat!
Pictures:
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| Vince, Shannon, Verm, Mitchell and Adrian representin' |
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| Team BRCM sizing up the pack |
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| BRCM at the front! |
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| Adrian getting it done |
Awesome job, guys! Great team effort.
ReplyDeleteYou ran a good race Adrian, and always looked strong. Staying in a good position was tough, but I guess we managed to pull it off.
ReplyDeleteI thought the race was tough and we were lucky to do so well. There really were a lot of strong guys out there. Since I'd raced against some of them before I really enjoyed paying them back this time!
Nice riding.
Shannon.