OSRS #4 - Reily Road Race

Felt good most of the race. There were a couple of questionable pulls that I made and paid for later on. I was able to hang with the main field at the finish and hold a decent sprint for 2nd place.

Great weather and great course best suited to those who like power climbs. Multiple rollers but all big ring stuff. This turned out to be a race of attrition with just one guy of the from (Zach from Bertolli). Didn't feel great today (probably riding 55 miles in Hocking yesterday was not the best prep for this race) and just sat in the field. By the end of the race there were maybe 15 guys or less left. Uphill sprint managed to get 5th for 6th overall.
Kudos to both Mitch and Blair for riding strong. Blair worked pretty much solo for over 2 laps in a break.

Started the first climb way too fast.....gotta actually apply what I know is right, STAY OFF THE FRONT. Ended up winning the 10-12 person mid-pack sprint. I was in the unfortunate lead position at 1k, but kept the pace high enough to keep anyone from coming around early and fast enough so that I could hopefully pull off the 200m sprint. 200m came and so did the charge forward. 100m left I was spinning like a madman and had one other wheel a few inches in front of me. Shifted down, stood up, and hammered away to pull ahead and win the sprint.

It may not count for much since it was for 12th, but a fun mini-victory for me :)

Hill's get me every time! Great race and perfect weather

Destroyed myself in a break!!

This was a weird race. The young Bertoli guys that lit things up on the climbs at Lake Hope must have been racing elsewhere, and everyone was taking things way easy on the big-ring risers. The challenge was out of the turns, particularly on the backstretch which was a long straightaway into a tough cross-wind. After the first five riders or so, everyone else was in the gutter where the paved edge line was jagged and attention was called for to stay on the road. On top of all that, we had the most intervenionist moto marshall I've ever encountered, and one I've not seen at races before-definitely not Ron. After three laps, those of us at the back of the pack were visibly tiring-it's so easy to spot-the tell tale hunching of shoulders and rocking hips, and guys started to lose the war of attrition. On lap four, right at the cross-wind section an accelleration resulted in five of us coming off. We rode together for a lap and I rode the last lap alone. Got a sunburn out of it on the limbs that stick out the most-my arms and schnoz.

Fun race with multiple attacks and counter attacks... until I dropped my chain at the beginning of the third lap. I lost several minutes on the field getting the chain in order. TT'd it for a lap and threw in the towel.