Due to family obligations, if i wanted to race at all, I would have to do the Elite Masters Race, cats 1-3. Not being delusional, I realized I would likely get my ass handed to me, but racing and getting thumped is better than not racing at all. What was nice that since the race started at 1:15, it gave me a chance to get a good night sleep, eat breakfast with my wife and youngest daughter, take her (my daughter) to work, then drive the hour drive to Bawlmer.
It was another gorgeous fall-like day, and since some of the larger races had cleared out, I had no trouble finding a good parking place and getting reg'ed up. I took my time getting ready and warmed up, then headed over to pre-ride the course, as it was slightly different from the usual course. A guy who had just finished offered to show me the "good" lines. It helped.
Got a decent starting position considering I was in among some crazy fast guys, and we headed off at the gun. My legs didn't feel quite as good as Nittany, but this was a tougher course, so that may have impacted it, too. After hanging for a while, I settled towards the back and pushed as hard as I could. I kept hearing Dave Tambauux rooting for me at "the tree" which was nice. with a few laps to go I saw Jay Downs and another guy up ahead of me, and 2 guys were charging up on me (they had mechanicals), so I started pushing harder. It was not to be; with 2 laps to go and the leaders coming up on us, they pulled us. We decided that was "OK", as I and the other 2 guys were dying slow deaths.
All in all, I' finished 60th out of 63 finishers, so I'm pretty content with that. Next up is Sanders and I'm really hoping to do well there.
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