Spring Series '09-Hueston Woods

While I did not have the winter I had last year, I rolled into today's race thinking I was not that far off. I registered for the Cat. 4 race today, getting a couple of stinkeyes from people who thought I should have moved up to Cat. 3. Mostly young people with no kids and no real jobs. Anyway, the race started pretty tamely, then a few attacks were launched maybe 3 or so miles in. I worked pretty hard to reel them in, then Shannon took over as the reeler, as our plan was to have Bill there for the finale if it was all together. Lap 2 or 3 (it's all fuzzy) two riders went off the front with one of them, a Cyclesport rider, staying away. On the last lap, I went to the front and asked the Dayton and Anthem guys if they were content racing for 2nd. They said they were not, so we started to reign him in. Except I feel like I was the only one doing most of the work. This was probably smart racing on their part, but after 5 or so miles, I had nothing left and he was still 100 or so yards off the front. I ended up being dropped but managed to fight back on. I was at the back of the pack going up the first hill by the marina but starting to move up to help with a team sprint. Approximately 3 miles from the finish, there was a massive crash, with bodies and bikes flying all over. This brought me to a screeching halt, almost endoing. By the time I got going again, the peloton was already out of sight. I tried to catch back on, but they were too far, and that's when the cramps started. It was so bad, I had to dismount to stretch them out.
Certainly not the result I was hoping for, but that's racing.