The 2nd of the 3 Dam Road Races went well for me. Not only did I collect a win for Team Colavita/Parisi Coffee, but I also got the maximum bonus points for topping the hill first on the first lap. So, with Matt not finishing the series in Cat 5, that puts me in the driver’s seat for the overall series win. I’d like to see Matt race one last time in C.5, but I feel like I helped convince him to cat up on Sunday so he could get into a race (he missed the C.5 start time) and now I don’t feel like I should talk him into coming back to 5’s. The guy is where he belongs anyway, and I’ll join him after this weekend. That’s going to bolster our team’s C.4 squad but it’s going to leave a hole in the C.5. Hopefully Joe, Steve, and Eric will take the reigns- more about Eric in a second…The race started quite mellow and we were all rolling across the dam starting to get warmed up when I heard a yelp and then the chilling sounds of bike and body hitting the ground. Luckily it happened two bikes behind me and only one rider went down. The group slowed a bit for a minute or so and then we were on our way again. I did a great job of staying near the front without putting my nose in the wind for the entire first lap until we got to the hill. With points up for grabs, I moved to the front and set a high pace while remaining comfortable. It was enough to thin the front down to about a half dozen riders. Halfway up the climb, just past Roger’s little carnival, a couple riders moved around me. I got on their wheel and followed them just long enough to collect myself and then I launched around their right side. Nobody reacted soon enough to stay with me and I was able to sit back down and motor acorss the line in first.
Except for another crash on lap 2 or 3, which I heard about later, the middle part of the race was mostly uneventful.
Coming up to the final climb, I was in about 8th wheel. I thought I was in a good spot coming around the corner heading into the climb but somehow I got boxed in with three riders side-by-side in front of me and a couple more on my left. I knew the Bike Shack and Monster/CRRT riders directly in front of me were the riders to watch so I stayed pinned directly behind them and didn’t panic. We rode most of the climb in this way and I started to get nervous when I saw the brown park sign. Just then, the Bike Shack rider verred to the right just enough to make room for me to squeeze between him and the Monster/CRRT. I powered between them and as soon as my bars were clear of theirs, I stood up and went for it. They followed me but I rode away for the victory!
As good as the victory felt, I got even more amped up watching Eric Stull sprint for 3rd in the B race. He and another rider threw down coming up the final climb and Eric came out on top. Eric had initially surged ahead but the other rider came back and nosed in front of him. I was screaming at Eric as they approached the line and somehow he found just enough something from somewhere to get back in front. It was awesome!
Two crashes in the 5 race?! Whoa. Maybe it's better I missed out.. ha ha. I think there'll be less of that in the 4's. You did great last weekend Dan, it's almost too bad you'll be cat-ing up or else you'd be cleaning up the 5's. I'm glad to hear it though, our 4 squad will be dominant!
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