You’d think that a Cat 3 would know how to get out of the saddle on a climb without throwing his bike back. You’d also think that a Cat 3 would know how to hold his line and not switch off it quickly after throwing his bike back. And if someone did those two things, taking out your front wheel and crashing you, you’d think that he’d apologize once you finished chasing for 15 minutes to get back onto the main group. Well, you’d hope. Sadly this was not the case last weekend. (Yes, I am talking about you, Yellow Tire Guy.)
The course was tough; lots of climbing with a few steep pitches. But this was a good thing because the field thinned way, way out after the very first lap, which made the sketchy, potholed descents easier to handle. I got crashed on a climb on the second lap and used up a bunch of energy to get back on to the front group. Shortly after I made contact, Tim from Bike Rack jumped off the front (again) marked by the Yellow Tire Jerk. Somehow, those two got a really big gap and despite our efforts—we had a nice paceline going—they stayed away until the end. I was able to follow a couple digs the fellows put in towards the finale, but ultimately succumbed to my bridge efforts and held on for an 8th place finish with a nice war wound.
