Nalley Historic Roswell Crit

.8 mile rectangle course. S/F on slight downhill on long side, not great 
corners, slight uphill on long backside. S/F ~300m from last corner. Light 
wind but variable throughout day. 72* partly cloudy. 

Masters 35+/45+ 
Couple breaks. Not knowing who to watch, I joined/bridged when they grew to 
5 or 6. All chased down. All except the one I didn't get on. It grew one man 
at a time, one of them should have been me but I never thought they would 
let that many go, and a couple strong teams shut down the field. I got in a 
really good chase with a strong guy. But, we had one, then two, then three 
boogers join us. After the two of us each gave several strong pulls two of 
the boogers attacked us. Dumb asses!  I got on the second guys wheel but he 
got gapped and I knew the other guy wasn't going to make it solo. He didn't. 
I chased some more with different groups but I was doing most of the work 
and I just couldn't close the last 15 seconds. And, I sure as hell wasn't 
going to get the wheel suckers close enough to jump. So, I sat up. The gap 
grew to 30 seconds before any chasing resumed. Feeling rested, I went to the 
front with a lap to go, hoping to at least keep it fast and safe for the 
guys sprinting for 8th (35s) and 2nd (45s) and maybe I would get enough of a 
gap on the little riser to stay off during the slightly downhill finish. I 
got the gap, but two groups of guys who had been sitting in (with guys in 
the break), organized leadouts for the 400m field sprint. I sat up to avoid 
the mayhem. 

Elite 2/3 
I had enough time to change jerseys and reload with water.  So, I started 
last in a big field. The race started fast. Lots of guys getting popped in 
the first 5 laps.  I almost dropped out after having to bridge gaps lap 
after lap for the first 10 minutes and not feeling strong. I figured it 
would settle down soon. It did. But, sadly, two laps later there was a huge 
crash just beyond the finish line on the straight away. Maybe 10-15 on the 
front weren't involved. Another ten including me had enough room so we 
stopped and picked our way through the wreckage and started chasing. After 
15-18 minutes of disorganized chasing we were stuck at 25 seconds. Oh well, 
might as well get a good workout. I went to the front and after 2 laps 
dropped all but one little young kid. He went up the "climb" OK but not much 
power for the chase. But we kept trying anyway. The moto came up next to us 
and said they screwed up and gave guys free laps after the crash that they 
shouldn't have. We were to pull into the pit and would be put back in the 
field. So, we did, and had to do an all out sprint to join the 30 mph 
peloton and be DFL and tired. Next lap of course had to be prime lap, speed 
up, two guys off the front, oh and...5 to go. Shiite! Passing the 4 to go I 
moved up from the very back to about 12th (of 50). Approaching 3 to go I 
moved up to 6-7th.  Fought for position as we chased. Caught the two man 
break with 2 to go. Still in good position. Bell lap. Fighting and sitting 
pretty. Up the "hill", patience, wait for the last corner, three man 
Hincapie Development train on the left, two Myogen somethings on the right, 
stuck inbetween, find a gap, they'll burn out, pedal pedal pedal...not 
enough left...caught 3 of them for an 8th place. 

Arghhhhh. I really wanted to show better today. Especially with Dave Towell 
on the mic. Oh well.  Next time!  Which just happens to be the EBC crit this 
weekend.