I decided to ride 2 races this weekend, to get some extra competition into my legs for the month of August, with 2 important races in Minnesota. The ride Vince convinced me to do this Saturday is a Wisconson race where around 120 people show up; their biking skills varying from PRO to recreative. Since I don't want to get stuck behind more unexpierenced riders, I immediatly break away in the start of the race with 8 other pretty strong riders. To get away from the peleton we need to ride 30+ for about 10 miles in a chainsaw rotating pace line. This all goes well and it looks like we will be gone for the rest of the race.
Since the race is only 38 miles, the pace in this race almost does not go under 25 mph. We will average around 25 mph at the end of the race. The longer the race lasts, the more I get into trouble figuring from the 9 leaders I am not with the strongest riders of this break away, and that is always risky. I need to skip a few turns in the rotating paceline, so decide to play it smart.
With 5 miles to go; our group of 8 riders splits up in 2 pieces, by that time I am not able to react to that attack anymore and the peleton is coming closer aswell. Suddenly it looks like all this 38 miles break away was for nothing. I go to the front of our group and give everything I have to make sure our group stays before the peleton. At the finish line our group only had 5 seconds before the peleton. But we just made it. I don't do well in the sprint; finishing 7th in total of 111 riders, but I am very happy I could ride in a breakaway for 40 miles with Cat 1/2 riders. Additionally I win the golden medal in my age category 30-34. This was a very nicely organized race and I am very gratefull to the organizers, who made this race more than an impersonal gathering of cyclists but a fun event.
Euer,
Joris
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