Spring racing started as usual with a trip out to the rain shadow in Sequim with 300 other local racers itching at the bit to get off the indoor trainer and see how their winter fitness was going to shape up against the local competition.
We have the routine dialed by now and Susan and I headed off for the morning ferry and donut stop ahead of my afternoon race.
It was just Wayne and I in the Masters 35+ (Cat 1/2/3) field for Apex and my only real goal was to get some race speed back in my legs ahead of the Mason Lake races later this month. Racing in a Masters field were people can be 20 years younger than me is getting progressively more difficult and the last couple years I’ve been dropped relatively early in the race.
This year was going to be different! (TLDR: 32nd / 46 with a pack finish)
We had 46 people in our field and the main reminder from Mick the evening before was for me to make sure I moved up ahead of the corners and didn’t get gapped to much (a recurring bad habit I have when I’m happy to hang out at the back of the field but then need to surge around people and close gaps when they get dropped and end up burning to many matches needlessly).
I kept channeling this throughout the race and it made a big difference. I was never right at the back and was never behind anyone who got dropped (though from the results about 5 people were at some point in the race).
All the riders were pretty smooth and experienced so it was a good opportunity to get mentally back into the flow of being in the middle of a pack. Small breaks went off the front most laps but nothing was sticking until coming into the final lap when a 5 man break with all the main teams got away. I was tempted to try to bridge up with Nate when I saw him going for it but wasn’t sure of my fitness so stuck with my main goal for this C race of not getting dropped. In hindsight I should have gone for it as I felt fine at the end and probably had some reserves.
Coming up to the latter part of the last lap I got talking with Wayne and tried to stick on his wheel coming up to the finish. I love this part of a race and it was a good incentive to keep moving up with him and keeping decent positioning near the front of our pack. The break was in sight up the road, never more than a minute away but didn’t come back.
In the run up to the final bumps leading into the finish I lost Wayne’s wheel and then had to dodge some slower riders that materialized in front of me (I think remanants of another field) which threw off my ramp up a bit but still comfortably finished with the pack. My current bike is very comfortable but doesn’t have much snap for a sprint and I certainly noticed the difference between it and my Kestrel. I may need to revisit what bike I race on if I actually start being in contention again this year in any races.
Overall happy enough with my result and riding, we averaged just under 25mph for the 60 miles and my finishing sprint was only 2 seconds slower than 10 years ago.
Susan was great, cheering along each lap, heckling with choice Irish phrases and ringing our big brass bell on each lap. Next stop, Mason Lake.
