GMSR - Circuit Race

53 miles (2 ¾ laps on a 19.5mile loop)

Master 30+
19th/60
19th GC

I don’t know what to make of these circuit races. They’re generally long loops with little change in terrain to split up the group. We all end up riding around for a long time and then have a sprint finish. There was one good climb, but the descent and flat generally discouraged anyone from getting away. Having said that, apparently 1 guy did so kudos to him. I wonder if he’ll have anything left for tomorrow’s RR. To make matters worse, there were crashes on the descent on our 1st and 2nd laps (we only went by 3 times) so we had to go through neutral leaving zero incentive to make a break on the climb.
Today I wanted to use this race as a learning experience and I told myself to stay with Fred Thomas and mirror his tactics. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to analyze as we pretty much stayed together. There were no legit breaks so there wasn’t much chasing, just accelerations.
As I said, it all came down to the finish. We were at the 1K to go when I pulled up along Fred and asked what he thought. He said it was a long way to go so we stayed towards the front of the pack. Shortly thereafter, guys around me started going and I latched on to a wheel and went, TOO EARLY! For some reason, my leadout let up halfway to the finish for whatever reason so I was on my own. I thought I could keep going, but the distance was greater than I thought and my sprint was turning into a long interval. Then woosh, a ton of guys went by and I was screwed! No I really don’t like these races!
I thought I was buried in the 30’s, but was pleasantly surprised I maintained my top-20 standing.
Next up is the grueling Road Race. I hope I can climb well.