Quicksilver Race Report

We went up early to watch the cat. 5 race at 11. Justin Gheen, Marshall, and John Nusbaum were racing. I think it was some good experience for Marshall and Justin, who both spent a little too much time in the wind, and paid for it. They will do better next time (though I heard Justin's bike fell off the car rack and he might be off the bike for a bit!)

John Nusbaum rode the race to perfection. He sat about 6 people back most of the race, protected from wind the whole time. It looked like he got boxed in on the last corner and had a tough time wading through the competition, but was able to finish an impressive 6th.

Brian Burns, Sean Tracy, Steevo and Darren all raced in the second race. Darren said he wasn't planning on doing too much, so you can guess how surprised we were when about 1/3 of the way though Darren was off the front with about 100 meters on the group. He held it for about a lap and a half, but I think the wind was too rough. It stayed together for a bunch sprint. Darren got boxed in much the same way Nusbaum did, and also had a 6th place finish. Bryan Burns was surging at the end and had a strong finish--not too bad for his first race against cat 3s. Steevo was also mid-pack.

Darren also raced the 1/2/3 race with me. Early on it was sort of staying together, though some people were attempting to get away. A few people got off of the front, and I was feeling pretty good, so I got into the chase. There were about 7 of us who grouped up. Unfortunately, one guy didn't pull through at all, one didn't pull through consistently, and the two NCVC guys had very little responsibility because they had representation in the break (I didn't know this at the time). I was going pretty much full out, as were two other guys--Ramon Benitez and a guy from another team (LSV maybe?). Unfortunately, it wasn't quite enough to pull back the lead group of 4. Darren never really recovered from the 3/4 race and fell off the pace, but still finished.

On the last lap I was kind of stupid. I rode totally defensively. We slowed to about 16 mph when one guy attacked. I didn't respond to that, expecting someone else to chase. They waited, I waited, and finally another guy went. I ended up going way too late, with no real chance to contest our group. I finished ahead of two guys from our chase group, finishing 9th overall. I think the real lesson I learned was to be a little more aggressive and try to make things happen.

(I will post the Sonny Hutchins report Monday or Tuesday).