Banana Belt #3

Ok, so here goes...the race report.

All races were delayed about 30 minutes due to ice first thing in the morning, so I started at about 1:15. It was 48 degrees and I was pretty chilly. Anyway, we had a neutral start for about 200 yards and then it was on. From the get go the pace was pretty high. This was an 11 mile loop that we were doing 3 times. Each lap had about 800 feet of climbing. I settled into the pack for the first few miles and then got ansy and wanted to be closer to the front, most likely my first mistake. Anyway, at mile marker 6 we had a steep downhill followed by a 90 degree corner. A few dudes came flying by me on the inside and I thought, these guys don't know there is a turn. Sure enough, they layed it down right in front of me. I was lucky and avoided, but missed the turn. I was sitting in about 7 wheel or so. After this near miss, I was sitting about at the end, peloton hammering down the flats section just up the road. There were three guys that veered off course with me, we quickly set out to work together and catch back up to the group. It took about 2 miles to finally catch them. I was whooped, not what I had hoped for the first 10 miles of the race. Anyway, worked my way back to the front of the group as we came though for lap one. My computer said 26 minutes, I was surprised, but my body feel like it was exactly right.

Lap two was more of the same, minus the crashing at the 90 degree corner. There were a couple small breaks, but they were brought back almost immediately. The group at the beginning of lap 3 was still all together, but that really didn't last for long. At the first climb on the third lap, we split into two. I was sitting about 10th wheel in the lead group, but was getting pushed out to the left. This was probably my next mistake as I took a pretty good pull up a longer hill to get back to the front. I then proceeded to lead the group to the top. We hit the 90 degree corner with about 4 miles to go, pace picked up, but still no one attacking. I was very tempted, but figured it was way to early, plus I just pulled the group to the top. We had one climb left that was anything to speak about. That would have been a good spot to try and break. And it was for the guy who did. I hadn't seen this guy once in the race, but he came up the right side flying. Nobody went with him. Once at the top of this section, it was mostly downhill to the finish. With 1k to go, I was behind a guy who bonked and sat up, I lost a few spots here. At the 200m sign, I took off into the oncoming traffic lane (this was the only time it was allowed) and hit it as hard as I could. I made a few of my spots back, but was still too far back after this clown sat up in front of me. I ended up 14th out of 44. I guess I was happy, but I have a better sprint than what I was able to use. The first 20 guys all finsihed within 2 seconds of the winner. Oh well, it was fun and overall a really nice day for racing. Here is a picture of my steed for the race:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/27029961 - Garmin file for race.