Submitted by Jeff Fisher
I got back to the starting area a little late and had just enough time to get my first number off, try and down some water, and get back to the start. I rolled up to the start line as the official said “30 seconds”. Talk about cutting it close. There was no neutral start to this race. I was off the back from the gun thinking WTF? We flew up the hill and I was probably the last guy in the group. Hmmm, that’s wasn’t a good place to be in, time to move up.
Now the 45+ race may have been slower, but it sure felt harder. Maybe because I was more involved or there were more attacks. The 35+ guys were racing like a bunch of cat 4s (no offense to all the 4s). Our field split in half probably three times and guys were so damn lazy they wouldn’t even roll through. I was on the wrong side of one of those splits and took a massive pull and got us within 20 meters and pulled off. Everyone pulled off with me and one guy even yelled at me to keep pulling. We just sat up when all anyone had to do was just keept the momentum going. Eventually we got back on, but I saw this happen a number of times.
With two laps to go, I thought I might actually be able to sprint at the end. With one to go I was passing guys up the hill and wasn’t feeling horrible, but was tired. I was second wheel going into the hill and the lead out guy pulled over into my line which caused me to slow down. I tried to get back up to speed but that was it the sprint was over. I should have done what I did the first race and jump sooner to avoid that, but when you’re tired you make silly mistakes. I just sat up and tooled into the finish.
It was definitely a fun race and great training for Concord next Saturday.
All results from this race HERE
Portland Velo Club 