Hey Zitter, I would take a top 10 after going to the back with 5 to go, that is a tough spot, nice recovery.
As for me, I nabbed a 2nd at our weekend crit in the master 1/2/3 (28 riders) and 3rd in our weekday master 1/2/3 circuit race (43 riders) last week. For those that prefer TLDR posts ... keep reading.
The weekday circuit race was a perfect day for me, my goal was simple sprint in as many sprints as possible. I started at the back, we got a bell as I was moving up towards the front and I found myself at the front too early so I backed off and let another rider take the wind. Lucky for me he kept the pace up so when the sprint finally started I was in perfect spot and was able to hold it for just over 250 meters and snag the first sprint points.
Back to the back for me as I like to avoid the argy bargy in the middle and the work at the front. I made it back to the front for the 3rd sprint and didn't have to go as long and nabbed another first, but right after that the fairly obvious winning break took off. It had all the top break guys in the group, and I even got a second chance as two more riders left late to bridge up, but I was too tired and with something like 30 miles left in the race I was hoping it would come back.
As I sat at the back wondering if I made the right choice I noticed the break sitting at 10 seconds and two laps later thought maybe I can bridge it, or at least get the group going. So I went as hard as I could for just under 2 minutes on the tailwind section, and just my luck, the group split and I was now part of an 8 man chase group ... with almost 25 miles to go. Great, not only do I get to be in a break all day, but I get to be in the chase group. Then it gets better as 3 riders sit on and it is just 5 of us working.
After a few laps of working really hard I mentally give up and just start riding tempo and doing my pulls, but don't have much heart left as it is pretty much just 4 of us working, with 2 others doing a little bit. Lap after lap goes by and eventually we are 20 seconds down in no mans land, but still in the points as there are only 5 left up front, so I sit up with a mile to go and give it all I have and end up 2nd in our chase group, but with my earlier points end up 3rd on the night. In the end that is exactly what I wanted, some decent miles, and three really good hard sprints. I checked my power meter and my final sprint was my best, even after the 25 mile break, so I'll call that a goal achieved, enjoy it and move on to next.
... second race was much more fun and ended slightly better. The course was tight at the top, then had a fast easy corner into a 3 block downhill headwind, then a 2 block slight rise followed by 3 corners to the finish, just under 1k with 6 corners. Basically get to the front in the headwind, sprint up the hill and then hold on through the corners to the finish.
I again started at the back to feel out the group and ensure I had plenty of space incase of any mishaps. After spending 50% of the race at the back and watching attack after attack come back I broke free of my mental block to move through the group and made my effort. Unlucky for me I was not able to get all the way to the front on the first go and had to sit just inside the top 10 going through the corners, but the group kept it safe.
I was at the front and assisting with the chase efforts by my second lap of effort, but I was not able to launch a counter move as I did the year before at the same point in the race. It seemed like a small break would work, but I just could not find enough in the tank to get a winning effort going. So after a number of laps at/near the front I finally needed a recharge and went to the back to let them sort it out. Just my luck a number of laps latter a strong break of two went up the road. As they were dangling just a few seconds off the front and I finally found my nerve to move back up with 5 to go.
Again it took two laps to get to the front, but as soon as I hit the front it looked scattered. I was not really sure what was going on but it seemed like while I was at the front of the group for the final 3 laps riders kept going and coming back all around me. So while I was pushing a lot of wind, I was also chasing down someone in front of me pretty much for 3 straight laps, so the constant carrot made life much easier and I wasn't really at the front the whole time. Also being at the front I could race my own race and keep things safe on the corners. I caught one rider on the bell, and another into the headwind on the final lap, getting max draft off each one. Then as we went up the hill one of the two lead riders fell off pace and we caught him as well. We were unable to catch the final rider, and since I made it to the top of the hill first, I was able to control it through the corners and take the pack sprint for 2nd.
As I looked at my power meter after the race, I hit (actually smashed) my max power numbers for the year and overall for every time span between 2 minutes and 40 minutes. Wow, I guess I was going harder than I thought the whole time, it seemed like an easy race and I felt like I was under control the whole time, but at least for my power meter I have never raced that hard ever. So while I missed out on the win, it feels even better that my training is putting me exactly where I hoped, and actually a little in front of where I wanted to be at this time of year. Onto the next race.