Darkhorse Racing

I ended up driving down to Frankfort by myself (actually had a good time and enjoyed the drive) for my 11am start. The course was a classic four corner crit, composing of 2 longer straightaway's with 2 shorter side streets. The road surface was "okay" but not great - I thought my tires were going to come unglued on some of the rough spots on the corners. The course was less than 1 mile in length and positioning was key. There was a sweeping left turn onto some cobles that was the back half of a "around about", leading into the finish line. Interesting thing was that as soon as you came out of the last turn, the finish line was less the 100 meters away. We had a field of about 36 start. Lots of attacks by the host team McDonald's, as well as Bike Clicks. Steve Fine from Team Dayton was there, along with two other guys from Greater Cin. The pace stayed pretty hot for most of the race and was single file through most of the turns. Felt pretty good and was able to respond well to surges and attacks. I got lucky early on by making a move to the front just as a series of attacks and counter attacks kept the pace extremely high for about 3 laps (if you look at the garmin, this is was the first of two times my heart rate spiked into the 180's). I was able to stay in the draft and near the front during this brief surge and didn't burn too many matches. I think my race would have turned out a little different otherwise - I remember looking back once and it was pretty strung out with guys working hard to pull it back together. With 4 laps to go, things got pretty hairy with everyone trying to get to the front. I fought like hell to hold onto my placing. There were a couple of attacks that we'd pull in and then with 2 to go, this dude made a sweet move and got a really good jump on the whole field that no one wanted anything to do with. He managed to stay away and deservedly took 1st place. Coming into the last lap and racing for second, the field swelled to about 6 wide with one or two guys dangling off the front. I was in a good spot when two guys from Scheller's Fitness & Cycling made the jump coming into the first turn of the last lap, easily taking the lead. I saw the move and jumped onto their wheel and went with them. I remember the guy in front of me screaming at his lead out man to "go-go-go!" And boy did he listen: great lead-out. I stayed on this wheel until we came through the cobles and out of the last turn and sprinted my arse off - four guys came around me (because I can't sprint) but managed to hold off the others for an 8th place finish. Needless to stay, I'm pretty stoked! However a little bittersweet - If I was a better sprinter, I maybe could've held onto a fourth or fifth place easily. Oh well.