It was a fondo, but it was timed....with medals. So it's a race....
100km flat fondo. Out with the wind, back with a 10-15mph headwind.
Mass start 100km and 200km fast guys starting together. Sat in and held my own with guys _much_ faster than me. Happy with that.
Once the 200km group broke off it was down to a group of like 15. Seven of which did zero work. I stayed no farther back than 5th wheel and did some work, but never more than felt comfortable.
Several attacks between 20 and 10ish miles to go. I dieseled a few of them back or jumped on a wheel that chased. Nothing stuck.
The last 5ish miles were fast but fairly tame. A big attack came at 1 mile to go which split the field, then imploded and everyone was back together until the end.
I was sitting 3-4th wheel, boxed in on the shoulder. Knew I was stuck if someone attacked on the outside.
The front two guys shifted just enough to the left that it opened a hole. I went hard. Pulled a pretty big gap on the field and was away solo into the final corner at about 340m to go.
Slightly misjudged a rut in the corner and ran a little wide, but had to scrub a ton of speed.
Recovered but was caught and swarmed with 50m to go.
8th overall, 3rd in my age group. 22.7mph average.
Pretty happy, tbh. I've never ridden 62 miles and had the sort of gas left for that sort of attack before. I'm usually smoked and out the back with a few miles to go when it ramps up.
I haven't "raced" in 3.5 years. This makes me want to find a road race again... too bad they pretty much don't exist here anymore.