Community Service

The Evo guys did a great job running Synfit yesterday. Very well organized. Only issue was the line for the portacans in the morning, but that's when all the demand is and those things hurt your budget.

I did the 4 race and the masters 4-5. Meant to do regular masters but I screwed up registering.

My plan for the 4 race, not being a fan of circuit type races and not being particularly well suited to them, was to warm up for a few laps and then drive the pace and try to cause a split. If that failed, which of course it would, I would relax for a while and then ride hard at the front for the last couple of laps and pull the pin at a half lap to go. This is exactly what I did, but when I pulled off the front at the bottom of the course on the last lap, I saw that Bike Rack guys had been on my wheel. WTF? My guys lost my wheel. Maybe BR guys hacked our team list server and read my plan? Anyhow, I've done my last full field sprint. They're too dangerous. Someone has to string the field out to prevent the big wrecks. You all from the 4 race can owe me one on that. Bert and Geoff finished in the money so that was cool.

The truly stupid thing is that after I led the race out and cooked myself completely, I then had to power back up to the end of the field to get my pack finish card punched in case I want to use that avenue some day. The current upgrade system guarantees shitty and dangerous racing. You need people who are among the strongest to do things that screw their chances for points if you want a good safe race. But you can not rely on altruism.

The masters 4-5 started slowly. A guy from Colavita was doing the right thing but we couldn't get anyone to pull through so all of these little attacks died on the vine. A few laps before halfway through, my teammate Nate snuck away with Tom from WWVC. They stayed away for several laps, through the prime. When they got caught, someone HAD to counter and it turned out to be me. I rode a little harder than LT and tried to give a 100% constant effort, rail the turns and give a little extra gas on the rise and into the wind. One time I looked back after turn one and the field wasn't there. On a course like Reston I might have had the race at that point since i must have had 12 or so seconds but after 5 laps my time on stage was over and WWVC ran me down then won the race. Good on them.

Unlike a lot of these kind of races I felt like I got a great workout in and had fun. All the skin that left the house in the morning came back in the afternoon. My teammates owe me a big one which I will collect at Washington County.

No Dolan for me today, I'm quitting while I'm ahead.