Pine Flat Road Race

First off I want to thank the team for riding a great race! Without them I wouldn't have done as nearly as well. The race started out pretty melllow. There wasn't really any attacks on the way to the turnaround. After the turnaround some guys started attacking and a group of 5 guys rolled off the front. With a long way to go and the toughest part of the race towards the end we didn't panic. The goal was not to bring back the break as soon as possible, because then another attack would have gone. So Brian, Tim, Eric and Coby went to the front and rode tempo to keep the break within striking distance, while I just sat in and was protected by the group. At this point I was starting to feel a little uneasy, because if I didn't ride well then I would be ruining it not only for myself, but also for my teamates. Everbody was sacrificing themselves for me to get a result. I was praying that I had legs on the climb! The boys reeled the break back on watts valley just before it started to get hilly. On the first roller a guy from the Cliff Bar team attacked and me and Ozzie from Cal Giant went with him. We quickly got a gap and started working together. We got to the wild cat climb together and then Ozzie fell off. Me and the cliff bar guy kept going and when we got to the steep section he started to fall off. I went hard about half way up and then decided that it probably would be best to wait, because I could see Jesse from Cal Giant coming and it was still to far to solo to the finish. The last part I took it easy and he caught me just as I had crested the top. We started working together, but then he stops and says he has a teamate coming. A group of 3 were chasing with ken Hanson from Cal Giant. They finally catch on and the group didn't work well at all, the strawberries would attack and nobody wanted to work. We fooled around for a little bit and then another 5 guys bridge to the group with another strawberry guy. At this point the group was not cooperative and strawberry started attacking. We were getting close to the finish and I threw down an attack just before the main climb and Jesse and Ken Hanson came with me from Strawberry. Not exactly the ideal situation, but better then fighting it out with 8 other guys. We got to the last climb and they started to tag team me. I covered the attacks, but when we made the turn with 200 meters to go I just didn't have a whole lot left. I sprinted as hard as I could but came up short and got 2nd. I road well and it was a complete team effort! Next up Snelling.

Vince