Hammer Crit in Portland on Saturday, 0.7 mile, wide roads, non-technical 3 corner course.
Masters 35+, Cat 123 race, 45 min - We had 8 guys of ~40 in the field, so we should have won ... but our best sprinter for this age group is good, but definitely not a pure sprinter, and he felt lousy during the race. Our team did try everything we could to get a break to stick, but it came down to a field sprint and I took 12th, with the best on our team taking 6th. My legs felt good and I had a blast attacking and going with attacks for the first and last thirds of the race, and sat in to recover the middle third.
Open P123 race, 115 min - My team took 1st and 2nd, but I was packfill. About 1/2 way through the race a break of 2 went, one being on my team, and another 10 laps later or so another teammate went with an attack that bridged up making it 5 in the break. They lapped the field with 1.5 laps to go and my teammates took 1st and 2nd of the 5 from the break. I had the legs and pack skill to move up near the front, but not to patrol any attacks once my teammates were off the front. I did manage to hold an OK position going into the finish thinking I may be in the running for top 12, but lost several places in the sprint and came in 17th of ~50 starters. This race felt really fast the entire time, but my average speed was ~27.5mph, so it really wasn't that fast for a P123 crit (it was basically the same average speed as the 35+ crit).
My team promoted this race, so it was an early start to set up barriers, and before and between my races I spent a lot of time standing in the sun marshalling corners. It was a great day at the races and our team raised $3500 for the team's charity (Edwards Center). I definitely ended the day thoroughly exhausted.