Cherry Pie: still a lot to work on

First road race of the year.  We had a plan and we followed it as best we could but as we all know, that means we accomplished about 10% of it.  A break of two established itself  early at the start of the second lap (I think?) and a solid chase effort never solidified.  That is until we managed to set up a beautiful little chase effort with a TIA guy, an Ironclad rider, two teammates and a sitting-in Gentle Lovers rider.

Chase 1.
Photo courtesy of Mary Stephens

At this point Will L. set up a beautiful move which launched me into the chase.  "I'm in a break, I'm in a break, I'm in a break!!"  Well, not really a break, a chase but still, I was more than a little excited.  So excited that I completely missed a turn.  I could blame it on the course marshal but really, I should know the course and where to go.  I did make an effort to get back on but it just wasn't to be.  Back to the pack I went to see what I could do for the team.

The chase eventually came back but the break was still up the road.  With about 5 miles to go we heard the break was only 55 seconds up the road.  We all looked to Adam ("our guy" for this race) and all we needed to hear was "bring it back."  With that it was 5 Team O guys to the front.  While it was in impressive show of force, after about 3 pulls it was just Chris D. and me left on the front.  Let me tell you, we pulled the s*** out of that field.  The eventual race winner sat 3 wheels back just watching us spin furiously, giving it everything we had to bring those two riders back.  Chris and I had no idea what the gap was but we knew we were dun-zo as soon as we hit the first hill leading into the finish.  Sure enough we made the right-hander and both of us dropped like stones, our work complete.

The break was brought back and Adam E. managed to kick to 5th place on that day.

Overall, it's really hard to complain about a result like that.  At the first race of the year we got a guy in the money and everyone finished in one piece.  Yes, there's always things that can be worked on but such is the case in any race.

For me, I just need to start by making the right turns.