Last weekend Kissena included several women's fields in the lineup, though not this week, so when I arrived at the staging area it felt strangely empty. Considering it was a mere 40 degrees out despite being sunny, I think most people were content to hang out in their cars prior to the start so as to keep their toes warm. Basically I was one of only a handful of people hanging out by the start/finish.
A guy I raced with last week had a car and offered I sit with him for a while and let my toes thaw a bit right before the race, which I was most grateful for since we all know, cold feet are slow feet.
Charlie (Kissena's magnanimous race director), called the Pro1/2/3 field to the line and had us 5's line up behind them as usual, and after a brief lecture about racing smart, we were off.
Not to spoil the story, but luckily there were no crashes or major mechanicals that morning. The field started off at a moderate pace of around 22mph and stayed there for pretty much the rest of the race.
Using what I learned from last week, I hung out a lot more in with the peloton trying to conserve energy for a hard effort on the last few laps. While sitting back there I was joking around with a few other racers that this seemed more like a tepid Sunday ride than a race-with-a-capital-r.
To be honest I got a little fed up just sitting in the pack so I moved up and started driving at the front with another guy I met last week (in yellow, above, I'm the one in black and white on his wheel). Apparently (and according to these photos I found), after the third lap or so we managed to drop over half the field... I only realized this when I floated toward what I thought was the middle of the peloton for some r&r before the final laps only to find that I was at the very back of the group!
We again joked around about the pace and that pretty much everyone left was going to get a top-ten spot.
I drove hard again on the front, hoping to either establish a break or obliterate the field some more (that's me above, punishing my competitors), which seemed to work at least a bit.
I was leading by a bike length or two on the bell lap which would've been fine had I really worn out everyone else. However, with about half a mile to go, a young polish guy launched an attack that I and only six others managed to hang onto.
Now we're racing! I dropped two or three cogs and stood, made it to about 35mph at the line but only managed to snag fifth or so (I've found that unless you're first or second with a big gap, it's pretty difficult to gauge where you finished). Considering I was last to grab onto the attack, and passed two or three people before the line, it wasn't a total loss.
I guess could look at it as though I was the fourth-best loser (how's that for optimism?), but I want better. I want to win.
