Racing so far... continued

Cat 3 racing Downtown Norfolk, NE -
I lined up with about 26 other riders including some Cat 1/2s.  The team to watch was the Trek Team.
The Kaos team  had a good presence but didn't seem to have the team cohesion as years before. 

At the whistle the race started.  I still have problems quickly clipping into my pedals.  I need to figure this out... it puts me in chase mode right away.  Not a big deal on this day though.

After a few fast starting laps, Lucas and Paul on the Trek team got off the front.  The annoucer started giving us split times.  15 sec, then 25...  Then another Trek guy try to bridge but was ordered back to the pack.  Team Kaos put in a few efforts to chase.  The gap stayed at about 30sec.  

Then the blocking started.  I shouldn't say blocking because we didn't have to follow.   Mark S. got on the front for the Trek team and set a good pace and everyone was on his wheel.  Instead of taking the corners wide, he would come in tight and accelerate out of them.  This tactic seem to slow the chase down and wear me out.  Putting that one in my bag of tricks.

At one point in the race Dan S. got in front of me and asked me if I wanted to go with him.  I said "No".  I was just surviving.  Well maybe just more than surviving.  I did some hard pulls up front and chased some people down.  It was not much though.

I was still with the pack crossing over the line the counter said 2 laps to go.  I was just wanting to finish this race.  Mark S caught the pack by surprise launching an attack off the front.  This was a smart move since Lucas and Paul had, in effect, lapped the pack, we were on the last lap.  Mark held on for 3rd.  I finish just behind a big group of riders.  Like the masters race... very very fun!!

Now, I am getting ready for the Elkhorn classic in Baker City, OR. Here is the riders list so far - http://elkhornclassic.com/Libraries/Data/June_7_2011_Registrations.htm.   I am looking forward to the crit on Saturday.  Here are the stages http://elkhornclassic.com/Stages/Stage_1.html
More to come on