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Posted by Paul on Monday, February 07, 2005 at 9:58 PM

Cherry Pie Crit, Super Bowl Sunday, 2005

The Cast:
Rob Robertson
Kevin King
Paul Carter, yours truly

The Skinny:
About a 1 mile course with a little grinder of a hill and a hairpin at the top. The course finishes at the top of the hill. We were set for 50 minutes of racing.

The Plan:
This would be our first official race of the 2005. The plan was simple. We wanted to try to get one of us into at least one early break to see what would happen. Then if it was together in the end, Rob agreed to be the setup man and Kevin the leadout man for the grinding uphill sprint. Easy enough?

How It Went:
We started off easy enough. The first trip down the hill felt a little... well, slow. Safe, but slow. Going back up the hill wasn't too hard for me initially, so that was good. The legs felt ok, even with 80+ miles the day before. So we sits and we waits.

The prime bell rings and there's a little action at the front, but I'm not interested and neither are Rob or Kevin. After a few more laps of grab-ass, at roughly the half-way point, Kevin follows a move up the left side before the hill and I see Rob following seconds later in a another group. So a tattered breakaway of about, I dunno, 8-12 get away. So I move to the front and chill. There were lots of teams involved in the break, so I wasn't alone.

The break didn't look too organized, but no matter, I had 2 guys in it, my job was to clog and bog behind. Sit up, read the newspaper, tell lame jokes, etc. So then the prime bell rings again, so I decide I'll try to hold my position at the front for a counter attack. After the guys sprint for the prime, I wait for the lull - the collective sigh of relief - and launch it with conviction normally reserved only for bean dip raids on Super Bowl Sunday.

I quickly joined Doran (sp?) from Solano and a Spine guy who I later found out was Chris and we got a decent gap. We quickly started working together through that lap and the next, although it became clear that Doran was fading already. We cut him some slack but he eventually just dropped off the pace. So then we're down to 5 to go and Chris and I are working together nicely.

I'm feeling good - not explosive - but good. As we wind down to 3 to go, it's still hard to tell if we'll make it. I was debating trying to attack Chris on the hill, or maybe just sitting in and hitting him with my wicked, ahem, "sprint" at the end. With 2 to go, they're getting closer, and it doesn't look good.

At the top of the hill, with 1 to go, they catch us. Shit. One guy shoots pass in a bold attack that didn't look like it would work. I stayed at the front, in the wind, not chasing, but trying to hold my position. I still had a sprint in me. A little before the bottom of the hill, the group finally swarms me, and I try to hold my spot.

Then a move goes on the left as we hit the bottom of the hill. I swing wide and sprint for it, but I've lost too many positions. I charge up past a lot of people, but only manage maybe top 15.

Post race:
Not a bad showing for just 3 guys. We had a man (sometimes 2) in the break for the entire second half of the race. I think our early season training is coming along nicely.

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