That was really, really hard. The race started with the sketchiest part of the race, a "neutral" downhill with a possible stop at the bottom. It was at the bottom of the hill that I realized nobody was coming up and yelling at people for crossing the centerline. That was exciting to me. My excitement may have ended my disguise as a cunning veteran, at least for those who didn't see me staring at the Marian bus in amazement. Or seen the taxi drop me off at the entrance to the park (big thanks to the Naval Academy for driving me up the hill).
The overly drawn-out callups had me placed in the middle of the pack. My nervous descending hadn't changed things much, but I quickly slid my way up to the front of the race. I surfed the moves for about half a lap and managed to stay near the front. Then the climb came. I didn't think things were going too badly until I got through the feed zone, glanced behind me and just saw a moto. I saw everybody on the long decent off the feed zone climb. There were a lot more people in that race than in an NWCCC race. By the bottom of the hill I was almost back to the front. I made it back at the front a couple miles later. More move surfing, then the climb again. I was a little more focused this time around and managed to get over it mid-pack. I still bombed the decent and made it back to the front of the race by the bottom of the hill. Things seemed to calm down a little for the rollers on that lap. Then the climb came again. I really don't like that climb. It's much too long and much too steep. I was with the pack until about 30 yards before the turn to the decent. I started to gap a little but didn't worry about it too much. I had gained big spots on the decent the last two laps and assumed I could just do it again. I was wrong. They crushed the decent that time.
I caught on with 2 guys from the West Point team. The military was helping me out all over the place. One of them only stayed with for about half a lap (what about not leaving a man behind?). I worked with the other for a while until we saw something wonderful: a pack. We thanked and congratulated each other as we approached what we thought was a splinter of the D2 race. Then we got a little closer and realized that it was all a mirage. It was a bunch of D1 riders. We asked them how far the D2 pack was up the road. "A long ways." That's a letdown. We continued on ahead of them to the climb. I fought for a while to hang with the Army rider. Then I fought for a while to keep pedaling. I finally made it over the climb and on to the last lap. I was solo now. Kind of. The D1 pack had caught me again. I wasn't allowed to work with them, so I rode on one side of the road while they rode the other. They would pass me, then I would pass them, and we played that game for a while. They finally got away from me on one of the last rollers before the final climb. Did I mention that I don't like the length or steepness of that climb? I really didn't like it the fifth time around. Once I got through the feed zone, it was time to climb the road that we descended at the start of the race. That was even steeper! It was all I could do to keep upright at times. A rider told me afterward that he had literally gotten off the bike and walked up the hill. I came up behind a D1 rider paperboying up the hill. I was gaining on him slowly, then I saw the photographer. I had to catch him quickly in order to have a cool profile pic! So I did and gimped my way over the last 100 yards to the finish. 44th. I'd like to know how many 3s finished ahead of me.
Big thanks to UM for driving me around today after the race. They're super cool and had a super cool van. Seriously, Bob's needs one of these. 6 racks inside, sound system, GPS, very nice.
Tomorrow is the Team Time Trial. Since I am a one man wolf pack, I'm thinking its beer and cheese ride day. The cabbies keep telling me about the farmers market with all the cheese samples. I think that sounds like a lovely mid-ride stop.
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