March 2011 > Wet and cold barely begins to describe the conditions in Warnerville yesterday. The wind was howling, I could not even keep my canopy up; there was a section of dirt road featuring endless potholes filled with dirty water; some puddles on the main road were six to eight inches deep and spanned the whole road, and so on. Did I mention the cold cold rain?
Most classes were pretty small (mens 1-2-3 had 1-2-3 men in it), but the 45+ 4s turned out a good group. We headed out shivering and complaining, everyone trying to find some shelter in the pack. The wind came at us from all directions, so there was a lot of moving around.
There are only a few hills, one long with a flat dip in the middle and a few short, and the one at the finish. Just to stay warm, I attacked on a short one, and nobody came with me. There were a few half-hearted attacks on other sections, but nobody rode off the front. So when we hit the long hill, I attacked again, and rode hard up the second section and down the back, opening up a big lead.
I rode off the front for around 20 miles, I think. I was feeling strong, so I figured that I might be able to pull it off if the pack decided not to chase. I tucked into time trial mode, and fought the wind and the rain until they caught me before the dirt section, with only a few miles to go. I found out later that one guy rallied the pack, and got them organized to take turns pulling. He won the race in the final sprint.
I was able to recover in the pack, and then stay near the front. As we pulled into the final section the headwind and gusts were really tough, and then we hit the final hill at a good pace. The pack had started to split by this time with me in the second group. I was able to bridge up the to the lead group but unfortunately not to get into the top five. I finished in 7th place.
It sounds weird to say given the horrible conditions, but this race was the most fun I've ever had racing bicycles. A few guys from other clubs came by later to say "good effort" and one guy said he was cheering me on.