One mile race: 3rd, Gettysburg cat 3

First, huge congrats to Alex for hitting the podium! With his sprint, we all knew it was just a matter of getting into the break and he'd be up there. So when the cat 4 break motored past the cat 3 pack and I saw him riding strong, I squealed like a schoolgirl. (As he says, I'm not proud.)

I have to say, our 4 boys impressed me. Alex obviously, but also Brett and Mike. I was watching the cat 4 pack come in, and with about 200 meters, I saw Brett in about 15th place. At 100 meters he was working through the top 10, and by the line he was just behind 3rd. That's a serious kick. Mike comes out of semi-retirement to give Alex some key support and finish strong on a course that doesn't play to his strengths. Soon as he sees a race with some real elevation change, he'll be the one riding off in the break.

And one more moment: the cat 3 and 4 packs were playing leapfrog for a while, and at one point, the referee inexplicably decided to lead the 3s past the 4s as we headed through two hard turns in succession. It could have been mayhem but for one thing. As we came by, I saw Brett and Mike at the front of the pack controlling for Alex, which was cool, but more impressive was that they had the class to slow the 4 pack and bring it together so that we 3s could get by without any broken clavicles. Nice job guys -- makes me proud to wear the same jersey.

As for the cat 3 race it was, well, kind of meh. There were a few flustercucks other than the ill-conceived pass I just mentioned: the pace car that took a wrong turn on the first lap; the moto ref who then tried to stop us by zipping to the front of the pack and throwing on the brakes, sending riders into the ditch; the junior who quietly rode away as we were neutralized to get the pack turned around, thereby gaining a several minute advantage which he held to the line, only to fight back tears when they told him he was relegated. And the forecast upper 60s and sunny that turned into 55 and misty rain. Do I need to mention what happens when you have wet roads in Amish horse-drawn carriage country?

But I'm not really animated about any of that, because in the end no one got hurt and none of it mattered to the race outcome. What bugged me was that the racing was fairly boring. The main culprit was the course: flat and windless. The other factor was that the OVR cat 3 series has now become the Echelon Cycling Show Staring Blair Fraley. Blair has a well-deserved commanding lead in the overall, and Echelon showed up with 6 or 7 guys to support him, many of them quite strong like Isaiah Wallake. They were there to control the race and put their guy to the line first, both of which they did 100% -- total credit to them and Blair for a job well done.

But with a non-selective course and with the biggest and strongest team shutting down all the early moves, the race became far too predictable: we're all going to roll around for two hours then race the last mile. Heck, if that's the way races are going to go, I'd rather just shorten them to one mile and save everyone the time. I've said before that I like races with a story, a little development or surprise. This race had none of that. Oh well. More hills, more wind, or another big team to mess with Echelon and the series will be back in action.

So, the last mile. I was fearing mayhem, since too many guys feeling strong means riders all over the place. In the end it wasn't too bad -- a DRT rider attacked late, which forced Echelon to chase him down and string things out. Once they caught him with about 500m to go, it got a little trickier. I was about 8 from the front with Blair on my right when a surge came up the left-hand side. I'd been planning to mark Blair again, but was worried that this surge would box me in so I jumped into it. Mistake. Just then Isaiah fired up to give Blair an excellent leadout and the left-hand surge lost steam. I was on-and-off the power picking my way through the wreckage for a while, and by the time I got clear, Blair and Scott Spees had about 10 meters on me. I started after them and was gaining for a while. Then I wasn't. Then we crossed the line.

3rd place, I'm happy with that. I'd rather come in 7th in a race that showed more excitement though. Next race I may go out with the plan just to try and blow sh*t up. I'll probably fail, but hey, at least it will be interesting.