03/31/07 Cat.3/4 Open Race Narrative

http://www.ccccracing.com/results.php?mode=recap&eventid=287

Cat 3/4 - On the drive over to Plainville, I spy the Iron Pipe on 91 with the fam. I pass by him roll down the window and he yells "win today."I tell him, for you baby, we are going to win.At the start we got 33 starters. Cyclonauts is there with 10 or so and the bug gumba Norton is there making the place look ugly. CVC had a good sized contingent. Maybe 8. We got 6 --- Biff, Stabbing Fire, Sasha, Me, Hunter, and 50A. And we got the strongest MFing squad too.Strategy is to work off CVC and Cyclonauts who will be gunning for each other. And perhaps find some opportunities. First few laps, the field is just pissing me off. Every attack is so lame, it turns my stomach. And I was not sure how I was feeling, my warm up left me unsure if my bronchitis was going to hold me back. SO I go and take a tester into the head wind. Just see how I feel. I go. Feels ok, so I lay in a little more. Look over my shoulder to see who I got with me and shit, its no one. I was hoping to have a CVC to work with. I was thinking about abandoning, but then say screw it. I keep the hammer going. Feeling good for about 5 laps solo. Finally I see some guys start bridging up. I see a Cyclonauts and Colby College and then behind CVC, the the Stabbing Fire getting a free ride up. I let up a bit to work the bridge. Nice to see S.F. get up with me without blowing himself too much. We're starting to rotate, but really its just me and S.F.. CVC and Colby are doing ok efforts, but nothing to write home to your coach about and Cyclonauts is doing nothing. I mention to S.F. that we need to drop the freeloaders. We both find our groove a little, and then S.F. asks me if I want him to drop the hammer. I say oh yeah. I tuck in right behind him and he unleashes it. We weren't even going for that long I swear, I turn over my shoulder and everyone else is gone. It's just me and S.F. in a 2 man breakway and our gap is now 30 seconds on the field!Holy crap. We keep the pressure going. I know the two other big teams without any representation in the break must be killing themselves to try to chase us. But I also knew we had a squad who knows how to block and be 100% bastards. So S.F. continues to push. Gap is so much we are now only 20 seconds away from lapping the field. Bell lap rings. S.F. and I just ride with our normal rotation and I wind up with 1st he gets 2nd. (unfortunately, I should have let S.F takes 1st place points). The field now decides to really start hammering. Our gap is shrinking. But both S.F. and I are like the harder we work, the less everyone else on our squad does so lets keep it going. Finally we are over taken. Sasha and I yell for Bob to counter. But Bob is feeling like crap. Shoot. I want the pressure on. I move up front. I take another attack. Fock it. I get caught, no one wants to pull through. Sasha tries to, and he gets a tremendous gallop, but again, Cyclonauts is squelching everything. Hunter goes, and he gets no where. S.F. goes again for a nice long one. Almost looked like it had something. Finally with five to go, the field is going from 28 mph down to 18 mph, quite annoying. Cyclonauts are all over the place riding in their ugly style.With I think 4 to go, Biff launches an awesomely timed attack. Cyclonauts were scratching their butts while Biff was just going further and further away. Norton is waiving his arms like a lunatic. We are all up front just watching their move. Finally, Cyclonauts starts some sort of chase. They do get Biff with 2 to go and now they are afraid of moving back, so they keep up the speed. But its not enough to shake us off. We have 4 riders in the top ten positions going into the last lap. We are all watching carefully. Final turn, Cyclonauts gives S.F a great leadout and he goes and gets seperation. Hunter gets blocked, and then I get blocked by Norton. S.F. wins. Sasha gets 6th. I think I rolled in at 7th.Just an awesome job. We road aggressively and kept the pressure on. The 4 lap to go attack by Biff was key to setting up Cyclonauts to lead us out.

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The Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield team had a very productive day and took the Series Team Leadership position. They also drafted a nice race narrative.

Good Job, Guys!!

Go Fast ... JIM