When we got there, we unloaded the bikes and headed for registration. I learned that pinning numbers on a skinsuit is way harder than on a simple jersey. I also learned that it's best to finish using the port-o-lets before putting the skinsuit on, but I learned that the hard way.
Unlike Kingswood, the organizers lined up the 4s Open first, then the 35+ 4s, and then the 45+ 4s, and sent us off individually. This was my first chance to look at the guys I was actually racing against, and put a few names from previous results to faces (and bib numbers). Anyway, the 4s went off, and we were ready to go when one of them went down in the starting straightaway, and didn't get up for what seemed like forever. We were going to go 30 seconds after their start, and as the time ticked down everyone kept looking at the guy on the ground, and then over to the official with his whistle in his mouth, and then back to the guy still on the ground, and ... finally, he got up, got back on his bike, and rode off.
And we were off! I'm still working on my start -- I think I came into the first turn in about 7th position, when I would've preferred to be in 3rd or 4th. The course was entirely on grass except for a couple of path crossings, and it was twisty and rolling. After one lap it seemed like there were about 4 of us at the front of the 35+ group, and we were beginning to pick our way through the back of the first field. I had pegged two guys at the beginning of my race to watch: Scot Hermann (Dayton) and Greg Fasig (ZWS): they had finished 1st and 2nd at Kingswood, and I had been well behind them there. Here I was keeping with them, and then Greg disappeared (I learned afterward that his chain, already with a faulty pin, had snapped). So I followed Scot a bit, along with a Smitty's rider (Butch); we were trailing at least one guy ahead who I didn't know. I felt pretty good, so I took a dig and Butch came with me, and then he dropped off a bit (after a painful remount experience -- I feel for ya, Butch, really I do), and then I was alone for most of the rest of the race, picking off the occasional rider from the field ahead, but eventually losing sight of the one guy I knew was ahead of me. We raced 5 laps; sometime in the fourth lap I started looking over my shoulder to make sure that no one was closing on me, and began pacing 
myself a little more carefully: those steep little kicker-hills were beginning to hu-u-u-rt, and I was starting to take poor lines on turns. I finished thinking I had probably got 2nd, maybe 3rd, and worst-case top-5 (in case I hadn't recognized two or three other riders in the grouping ahead of me). Initially the results came back saying I was 3rd, but they were corrected and I indeed did finish 2nd. Mairin helped me with my podium form before the awards.
myself a little more carefully: those steep little kicker-hills were beginning to hu-u-u-rt, and I was starting to take poor lines on turns. I finished thinking I had probably got 2nd, maybe 3rd, and worst-case top-5 (in case I hadn't recognized two or three other riders in the grouping ahead of me). Initially the results came back saying I was 3rd, but they were corrected and I indeed did finish 2nd. Mairin helped me with my podium form before the awards.For an all-grass course, there was a whole lot of variety: the downhills, tape placement, and tons of off-camber made for some real exercises in cornering, and I washed out my rear wheel a couple times and was fortunate not to go down. Several places were boggy mud that got more rutted as the ride went on. And the cruelly placed steep little kickers took away momentum just when you really wanted it, so there you couldn't really get a long stretch going. I guess it worked for me.
After my race we stuck around for a picnic, watched the 3s, and wore out our cowbells -- Nick represented well, and said he felt a whole lot better than at Kingswood. Dan went out and won the 35+ 3s. That's our Quarterback-horse.
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