Same race. I only knew Ygduf, mattm, Eamon and a teammate of mine who just got his cat 3 upgrade. But assumed there would be a handful of strong dudes and a handful of fresh 3s, so I had to stay forward to avoid splits without working as though I'm one of the strong dudes We had the usual first 15 minutes of insane intensity, but like Fudgy said it was mainly due to us having to keep Eamon's leash short. If a super strong break threatened, I knew better than to try and get in it so I did my part to help kill it (meaning pick up the slack when the field tries to slow to 20 mph).
Pace evens out at around 15 minutes per usual, and I start watching for the break that can stick but won't destroy me. Fudgy, Eamon, matt, and 2 others go and immediately I go with 2 guys to bridge. Big enough that I won't die, strong enough to stay away. But we hover oh so close for oh so long, then Matt drops back, and soon enough we drift back to the pack.
The break is gone, the pack is waiting. I don't want a field sprint. One lap to go someone jumps and 5 of us latch on. Gap behind me, but I know it'll close. Half lap to go Matt takes off, I take off after him, field hesitates. I catch matt, sit on his wheel for a bit, watch the field getting closer and come around a ways out. Idk how far but pretty darn far. I pull Matt up to the line and he tries to come around but he was out of juice.
Pissed I missed the break, but happy to get best of the rest.
Was gonna try and lead my teammate out for 5th, but one to go I looked back and he's suffering waaay at the back.
Almost 2 minutes slower than the break.
55 minutes, 269 AP, 295 NP