Ok, first race for the 09 season in the books. I always like to start of my early season training with a few road races and crits just to get some race miles under the legs. I really enjoy the Wolfpack Classic. The guys at NC State do a fantastic job and put on a great race. I really like how they are not afraid to make the road race a decent distance (54 miles for Cat 4).
On to the race. As I said, these early season races are more for training than anything else. We had a moderate size field of about 40+ guys to start the Cat 4 race. The first lap went along at a fairly relaxed pace. A few solo breaks went off the front, but were reeled in with little effort. However, as we approached the end of the first lap, I saw a guy about to make a move, and when he did, I decided to go with him. It was a really strong move, a we immediately opened up a 100 meter gap on the field. Unfortunately, once a came through to take a pull, my fellow escapee informed me that he had no intention of staying of for very long. Not exactly what I wanted to hear. At that point we had a fairly sizable gap, so I decided to just keep trucking. He managed to stick my wheel for a while, but we were reeled in rather quickly by a surprisingly hard charging peloton.
After my move on the first lap, I decided to just settle in and recover for the second lap, with hopes of saving energy for a break on the third and final lap. So, about midway through the final lap I figured it was time to try another break. I made a hard charge from about 8 wheels back up and over a small climb and opened up a small gap, only to be swallowed up a few minutes later. At this point I was getting a little tired, so I figured I would wait and see if anyone else was going to have a dig. As expected, a move was made on one of the longer climbs on the course. Three guys surged off the front towards the crest of the climb and opened up a gap on a weary peloton. This move was actually showing some promise. I hesitated for a second waiting to see if anyone else was going to lay chase to the break. No one was attempting to bridge yet, so I went off the front to try and make contact with the three leaders. My legs were burning at this point, so my move was quite as snappy I wanted it to be, but I finally made contact with the leaders. However, I was devastated when I turned around and realized that what I thought was on guy riding me wheel was actually the whole field. Well, the sprinters can thank me for that one!
Coming into the file few miles, I was in desperation mode. I was not in the mood to contest a field sprint. My best chances in winning are in breakaway's. So, my final move came with about four miles to go. I knew there was a 90 degree turn up ahead and I figured I might be able to create some separation if I attack heading into it. About 200 meters out, I made my move up on the inside. My legs were really burning at this point, but I knew I had to try anyway. I nailed the turn at full speed and hammered with everything I had. But, it just wasn't meant to be. The pace up until this point had not been very fast, and the sprinters in the bunch were not going to let anyone slip away this close to the finish. So I settled back into the group and tried to prepare for the sprint. A couple more attacks went, but no one had the horsepower to hold of the group. Coming into the sprint, I felt I could still have a decent finish. I had could positioning about 8 wheels back on the left hand side with a full lane to my left that opened at 200 meters to go. Unfortunately, I waited to long and got boxed in on my left side. The guy whose wheel I was following in front of me also got cut off and almost wrecked. At that point I just sat up realizing that a move up the middle would be to risky. It's not worth crashing this early in the season.
So all in all, a great day of racing. Things did not go quite as planned, but I got a great workout, which was my primary goal. Next up on the calendar is the Azalea Festival Triathlon here in Wilmington. This is always a fun race, and a good early season ice breaker.
