Did the Henleyville RR today, only ~73 miles. Didn't make the break..
It's about 3 hours away (w/out traffic) and starts at 8 AM, so it's always been a no-go for me. But this year I'm 2nd in BAR points for the elite 1/2 field, and up there in the "Cal Cup" (series of races with a decent payout).
So I drove up Friday, did the race this morning. Made the mistake of not leaving early enough yesterday, hit Friday/regular traffic when heading north, so the drive actually took a little over four hours.. ugh. Stopped about halfway to ride in an area I've only raced in, just to break up the monotony and also since I hadn't ridden since Tuesday. Felt weird to do the towel/change thing in a neighborhood when you're the only one doing it! The riding up there (around Winters) was nice though - so flat.
Anyway the race: had @
aaronmcd and another team mate, who said they'd work for me. Sweet! And another guy from a different team who also said he'd work for me. Sweet x 2!
The pack wasn't huge, but was decent - maybe 20? The course is mostly flat/windy, with a small ~2 minute climb through the feed zone.
Early break went coming in to the feed climb the first time. I was on the back, figured all those guys that were there to help me would shut it down. But J, the guy from another team who said he was basically racing for us today, got in the move and didn't look back. How's that for some teamwork?! lol
My actual teammates didn't chase at first. I was hoping it'd come back. (it didn't) Once the break had a ~1 minute gap and it was pretty clear they weren't coming back, I tried to bridge. Was hoping someone (like the local jr hotshot who recently signed with Axeon) would come with me, but he didn't. So I tried to bridge for about 8 minutes until I blew up. Made it maybe halfway but that last 20-30 seconds is the hardest..
Eventually I convinced my teammates to actually chase. All the other teams had someone in the move, so it was down to just us. And the jr hotshot - who had instructions to sit in the first hour, then chase in the 2nd hour - chased, which was cool. I even pitched in a little. But it was all too little too late.
On the last lap (of four), a little split in our chase group happened and I jumped across. We rode to the finish as a little group of 8 or so, but this race has a weird finish - you don't actually do it until the last lap/the actual finish. Having never done this race before, I didn't really know what to expect, besides it had a little rise. A friend in our group told me what to expect, so that helped.
There was a little bump leading up to the line, with a straight 400m or so from the last corner to the line. I was 2nd or 3rd wheel in our group (sprinting for 6th), waited for what felt like forever, and was the first to jump. But it was too soon, so I blew up and got swarmed by a few guys. Not sure where I ended up, maybe 11th? Probably scraped up a few BAR points but damn, I shoulda been in that break!!
In some ways in was a total waste to drive all the way up there, hotel, etc, but it wasn't all bad. My tan lines are looking decent! And I gained some experience points.. I learned not to rely on some who's not on your team who says they'll help (I told him he was fired after the race), and learned (for the millionth time) that I should probably go with that early break if it looks anywhere close to promising.