Vuelta d’ Acadiana Road Race (Lafayette, Louisiana) Cat 1/2/3. 71 miles. 4th Place
I was out of town for work from Monday afternoon through Friday at 1:30AM. I got sick while on the trip and really didn't know whether I could complete the race or not--much less be competitive. I did a quick workout on Saturday with 3x90" efforts on the trainer and felt like crap--my HR was way high. With all of that weighing against me, I went into this race on Sunday just thinking I'd see if I could hang on to finish. I told myself I wouldn't do anything besides sit in.
There were 22 starters in the Road Race, with everyone EXCEPT me being on either team LaSport, Palmer/C-Spire, or 4D Racing. I lined up right at the front for the start and got rolling. There were the usual attacks from the get-go. With everyone being fresh, nothing stuck immediately. I wasn't feeling too great and I ended up shuffled right to the back.
Approximately 10-miles in a three-man break went with LaSport, Palmer/C-Spire, and 4D. I was at the back when I saw the break roll off the front. The pace plummeted in the group to 18-20 MPH. With all three teams represented in the break, I knew the blocking was on. I was stuck last wheel, so I had to work my way to the front over the next couple of minutes. By the time I made it to the front, the break was out of sight, but I attacked anyway.
When I had a chance to glance back, I had three other guys with me, another one from each team. I thought this was perfect since one of the guys is a pro triathlete and could certainly drag us to the main break if I petered out. Luckily I was able to continue to work and all four of us rotated for the next 6.3 miles to bridge the gap. When we made the juncture, there was a bit of discussion on which teams could work to preserve their team's GC positions. Finally, everyone figured out that they had something to gain from this move sticking, so the group started working decently well together.
After 20+ miles in this 7-man break, another two guys bridged up to us: another LaSPort and another Palmer/C-Spire guy. That put the count at: 3 Palmer/C-Spire, 3 LaSport, 2 from 4D and then me solo. But we still didn't have a time gap to any other chasers, so we all kept working a bit.
Finally with 15 miles to go, the moto told us we had a time gap of 3:50 to three chasers. Someone asked "How far back is the rest of the peleton?" The moto ref said "there is no peleton left!"
After that, the teams started attacking trying to whittle down the group. LaSport and C-Spire had cards to play with 3 each in the break. But before long, C-Spire was down to one with LaSport and 4D still with numbers.
With about 6 or 7 miles to go, 4D launched a solo from their TT guy and he was gone. He was certain to win at this point, no one wanted to chase and he was the strongest of the group. A few miles later he was back in the group of 6 with us and had road rash on his hip. Apparently he had taken a turn too hot and hit some gravel and gone down.
A few miles from the finish, it was apparent it would be a sprint from a group of 6. I knew I didn't have a chance in a sprint, but I had nothing left to attack. So I just covered the attacks and sat on wheels. I got beat by one from each team and I came around the remaining 'lead out' guys to take 4th.