Ok so this is a picture of Staci tearing it up in Sonoma Valley and not one of the Blue Marsh Race. What of it?!?!
Sunday was about as perfect of a day to race as you could ask for. Sunny, slight breeze, and highs in the low 60's. The course was beautiful (with the exception of a spot here and there that was a complete mud hole).
James rode in the Sport race. I was there in time to see him finish his first lap. He was in a group of three about 4 minutes back of the leaders and only seconds behind the lead chase. I told him to get on it or he was off the team. He did. Coming around to the finish he had moved up. 5th overall and 3rd in his class. Not too shabby old man.
Next was my race. It was a small turn out but that doesn't really make it any easier. Especially when you have guys like Ryan DeWald (Battely Harley-Davidson) and the Alesio twins (Fuji Bikes) at the start line with you.
The start felt pretty slow and I jumped into 4th in the paceline. The Alesio's were 1 and 2. DeWald 3rd. No one behind me. "Huh?" I thought to myself. I was fully expecting the group to be on my wheel but they weren't. We hammered on. I hung with them until we hit the big climbs. They never slowed down. I'm not really sure what happened but I just couldn't get into a good climbing rhythm all day. Over the second big climb a rider from Gretna Bikes caught up to me. He was climbing really well but I was faster on the flats and descents. I took a spill. ***My excuse is that my contacts dried out and I didn't see the huge slop hole I ran into. I'm not that big of an idiot.*** Gretna guy gets around me. "Crap!" (This may or may not have been the actual word used.) We were still on the first lap.
Gretna guy gaps me pretty good. Finally I relied on experience. I put my head down, focused, and got into a nice threshold zone. The second lap was uneventful.
On the third time around I could see I was gaining on the Gretna guy but I was still climbing like crap. It was a yo-yo for most of the third lap until we got over the second big climb on the course. On the descent I stuck on his wheel. When we hit the short steep climb I punched it. I put a gap on him and took it to the line. 4th place in 1:48 which I felt could've been faster had I been able to climb.
DeWald smoked the course in 1:24. That's over 14mph.
