@ 123s

I'm going to try to get there early to help with reg, or at least to give dues a bathroom break. I'd like to sit in the first few laps to warm up and then I'm ready to go at it like a honey badger. 

Yack-fu

the result for me is that I'm laying on my couch in the fetal position watching antiques roadshow and eating pastries. 

Nice riding Kissena...and you stay classy.

Yacks

results posted.

Yesterday's race was hard. Foundation went with their approach to drill it from the start and soften up the field. Nothing managed to get away. On the final KOM, Yang pulled from the bottom of the hill to somewhere near the start finish and I'm not sure who took up the charge at that point. On the hill Yacks drilled it hoping to launch Condon into a break but nothing stuck. On the final lap, there was a crash at the bottom of the hill which took out several people and in the chaos a number of gaps started opening up. I had to jump around a couple of people on the hill to close gaps down and after GAP I could see there were 2 distinct groups ahead of me. Can't say if there were any other groups behind me. On the one hand I was certain that Condon was in the front group so I wasn't too concerned about making sure Condon had a good finish and hence thought about calling it a day. I chased a bit, found some wheels and we came all back together by the top of, or on the hill. 

At that point it was all together and while I was near the back I was able to improve my position relatively easily to an extent. I didn't see Condon and I figured I'd freelance it to the end. I was moving up quite well until just at the first drive of our start/finish triangle. Two guys who were slightly ahead of me, but that I was closing in on, decided they wanted to move closer to each other and I didn't want to become part of a Craig sandwich. I grabbed some brake and once the danger subsided (this is all milliseconds) I continued my lame seated sprint. Came in 19th. I'm still figuring out positioning at the end of the race but I'm steadily improving and am happy with the result. 

26.7 mph avg speed according to the official results. 26.2 avg according to Garmin/GC. Here are my lap times with average speed:

1. Went too early.  I hit the front hard right after the temple and blew up just after the boards.  My thought at the time was that the pace was slowing down and Foundation's guys in front - and the rest of the field - seemed to be taking a breather in prep for the field sprint.  I felt the pace needed to remain high to keep Jeff in a good spot, but...

2. Didn't tell and/or find any other Kissenas to go to the front with me.  If we had at least one more set of legs, maybe the combined firepower could have put Jeff at a better position by the crosswalk?

Being new to this, I can take this is a learning/growing experience, but wish it didn't happen during a bid for the series podium spot.  Sorry, Jeff, if I ever make it into the 3s by some clerical accident, I.O.U. one leadout.

Besides all the what-ifs, I had a great time racing the series with everyone and looking forward to doing it again next year.  And seriously, a non-ironic Martin Prince "excelsior!" to Yacks, Andy, Jeff C.  

Me, Keith, Jersey Mike, Rene, Stokes, and Joaquin were the lineup.

Somewhere later, I was in a move that was halfway shut down on the descent and then Joaquin jumped by in a group.  I figured confusion was the only way to succeed, so I followed some wheels to Joaquin, and when his group slowed, I went again.  Nothing.

It started to seem that the big problem was the Foundation squad.  They were getting into moves and not driving them.  Considering they had the deepest squad, it was weird.  One of the Alexander brothers, not usually an aggressor was riding aggressively.  Alejandro Guzman, often an aggressor, was pretty quiet until later in the race.  Their beasts, Rafael Meran and Euris Vidal weren't doing much other than countering up to moves that they weren't really killing.  

I took a last shot by countering the final prime sprint at three to go.  Got a gap and went solo up the hill and was caught by a small group at GAP, but the field, which I think was foundation-led, was intent to chase it down.  At that point, we commenced to ride two fairly slow laps to the finish.  I didn't want a bunch sprint, but I wasn't seeing a way out of it unless I tried to spur a hail mary move or was able to line up behind Foundation for the sprint.

Unfortunately, slow means stupid.  Someone rode into Keith right before the curve to the ampitheatre and probably 10 guys went down.  Keith stayed up.  I was behind it, and had to get around.  I had been waiting for the left curve to get into position.  Alas.

Kudos to WS United for going 1-2 ahead of Foundation, which then took the next several places.  Foundation kept it together to get beat.  Classic.

Race notes: Karl Nelson of Krebs was racing with one of his rear brake pads missing.  I alerted him of this, he acknowledged it fell off somewhere, and kept racing.  Perhaps it might have something to do with the fact he doesn't have any set screws in his SRAM pad holders.  The Giro helmet he might have won in the sprint competition is surely worth more than the carbon Hed wheel he had.  And after the race, he showed me he had found it.  Cesar Marte tried to pull a Stalin Quiterio and decided at the top of the descent to take both hands off the bars and casually remove his sunglasses.  For Keith's sake, and mine, he stayed up.