Winning when Finishing Dead Last
I just got my upgrade approved Monday to Cat 3. So I wasted no time in trying a 123 race.
I hit up the Augusta Training Series A race tonight. And I was DFL.
Yep Dead F&@&### Last and proud of it.
The race starts out with all the guys doing a teammate check. Who's with who and how many they have. Montclair Cyclery had 4 or 5 guys and Finkraft had a few. The pace was pretty chill at first and I was easily hanging around 4th or 5th for the majority of the first half of the race.
There were a few jumps but I covered them hoping I could get in a break. But nothing developed and I was just working against the Montclair crew who kept sending guys and blocking aggressively.
A huge difference in the A race is how close they race. The race gets bunched up tight and then explodes over and over.
I see a break go and the 4th one was the charm. I was boxed in right and it went left. Things change so fast. With Montclair blocking as they had a man on the break I tried to bridge. And I went alone but just couldn't make it. Gfx finally pulled the rest of the group up to me as I just couldn't get there. And off they rode with blocking in force.
The blocking was really effective and only 2 or 3 of us were trying to fight it. They were good at making sure they were 2nd wheel or first at all times. I wasn't going to settle sprinting for 9th place. So I spent the next 20 minutes reeling it back. I spent the majority of the time pulling and just killed myself.
With 3 to go I was close and they just pulled further away. But at 1 to go I knew they would be jockeying so I just put my head down and went hard. And sure enough I caught them right on the last turn before the hill. Unfortunately I was done but they didn't get away.
The whole group came back together for a bunch sprint.
Booyah. Shows you to never give up on a race. Montclair tried so hard to stop me but I found a way to push through.
Next week I'll try again and maybe the break will go right instead of left.
