Andrew Da Silva said:

Thanks guys. 

 Cat. 4 race report.

Pretty straight forward. Jim goes from the gun and strings things out a bit. In the first couple of laps I went with a few break attempts, but I'm bridging up to guys who don't really have the goods to make them stick. 

lap two or three things get a little sketchy around the 90degree turn 1k from the finish and I almost get taken out. I get frustrated and angrily motor across the gap that was formed due to the sketchy turn.... I make it up to that group and ride through them. Next thing I know I'm In a four man break. The break consists of myself, my buddy from Rutgers Paul, Eli from Cosmic, and some Liberty Cycles guy. Honestly the Liberty guy did diddly squat, but he was was the most valuable person in the break on account of his having eight or so guys back in the field. Paul was strong enough and Eli has a big Diesel engine. I did my fair share, and kept finding myself pulling on a particular windy section. The break moves with a good rhythm and tempo and we end up building a sizable gap. By the end of the race we have the field in site. Eli keeps shouting "... Lets lap the field guys come on!". In my head I'm thinking "...no, bad idea, there is one lap left and my odds of beating 3 guys in a sprint are a lot better than trying to duke it out in a field sprint". To avoid making the capture I stop pulling and start setting myself up for the sprint. I figure liberty has nothing left, and I know my buddy Paul doesn't real have too much of a kick. Only guy I'm sweating is the cosmic dude Eli. We come into the last stretch and I'm sitting forth wheel behind Eli. Paul launches the sprint from around 500 meters out. I let Eli move me up and I come around him in the last 100 meters for the win. 

 Thanks to Jim and Phillip for blocking, i felt super confident knowing you guys were back there holding things down. Jim told me after the race that the field pretty much sat up once we got away aside from a couple of bridge attempts. 

 Overall I'd say it was one of my best days of racing to date. 

Congrats to Craig and Eric. I had to leave half way through the cat 3 race, but as I was leaving I saw what I am assuming was the move that landed Craig his podium spot. From what I saw every one was looking strong.

quick 5s report. 

first twenty or so mins were dull, dull, dull.  rode second wheel the entire time with some CRCA guy that seemed more than happy to lead the way.  my HR monitor was out of whack and was claiming a 199 bpm effort, but after awhile it went back in line to 140ish.  like i said, dull.

pace picks up two laps to go.  no one goes though. 

bell lap, field starts to split; still riding second or third wheel and feeling good.  coming into the last left-hand turn there's a load of argy bargy and lots of elbowing.  overall feel comfortable here.... but, i let a few guys get ahead of me out of the turn. 

start to sprint about 400m out, pass a few guys.  think i got sixth.  not sure.

+s

* felt a lot more comfortable in the chaos of the pack on the bell lap.  race experience is really helping here.

* apart from perhaps a couple of minutes, i spent no time in the wind.  it ended up being about 25 mins of endurance / low tempo work

-s

* i wasn't aggressive enough towards the end and let people slip by.  i should have held my position far better. 

* i have to stop sitting there waiting for others to attack. a field sprint is not where i am going to excel.  far better, my limited experience is telling me, to try and establish a breakaway (presuming i feel good, which i was). holding a high pace for 30 mins is going to work out better for me than hustling for 30 seconds of action.

@ john malcolmson... thanks -- that is a great article.  basically i made at least three of the seven mistakes listed. 

Mark Clifford said:

in hindsight i don't think it was actually 400m.  i am terrible at judging distances.  for years i claimed i had a 28" member.  Turns out it was only 14"

Wes Tillman said:

Don't forget about Nelson. We should talk Rigby into coming out too.