11/21/2010 Tailwind Bloomer Park LAST LAP MASTERS 35+

All cylinders were firing today. Know one can say I didn't try that's for sure. And I could taste it. Not only the "Win" that dangled in front of me for 3 1/2 laps, but the puke in my throat for my effort. The 2nd to last race was held at Bloomer Park. Bloomer has been good to me for the past 3 years, and today's course was looking to be favorable also. So here is how it all went down.

I was not sure how the body was going to react today. Basically I'm finished with my training, so I was either going to start going backwards or stay somewhere near the front. Well luckily it was the 2nd. And near the front was exactly what I did. Being so close to the State Championship, the players start to shuffle and come out of the wood work. Today was not different, and I was actually a little worried about it. Simon Baily decided to drop down from a full season of Elites to race with us. A very strong and talented Joe Brzuhanski from Bell's Brewery MTB Racing team showed up, and Jarod Makowsli made the jump from dominating the B field to play with the masters. Then there were the usual suspects. Right from the whistle, the pace was insane! I was sitting in around 6th place for the first 2 laps. The 2 leaders broke off and it was a group of 4 that contained Joe, Scott Goocher, Dan Bannink, and myself. Dan kept on picking the guys off in our group one at a time. So I followed. Around the 3rd lap. He got a flat. I got around and was sitting on Joe's wheel. I stayed there and tried to recover as much as possible. Then I attacked on the beginning of the next lap. I was putting time into the group I was just with, and much to my surprise I was catching the leaders! And I was still feeling good. I rode on their wheels (Simon and Rodger Bowser) for the next lap. And then I decided If I really want a chance to win, I got to attack and see who pops. And Attack I did. I dug real deep and would get a gap, but could not hold it. I was in the red zone for the rest of the race, but I was still feeling really good. I held the lead for 3 laps. Then near the end of the 2nd to last lap, the group of 3 behind me containing Simon, Rodger, and Joe passed me but I was still able to hang on. We stayed this way going into the last lap. And then again I tried to roll the dice and attacked hard in the beginning straight. I got a gap again, but just could not hold it through the twisty parts of the course. I was sitting on their wheels again in 4th. We came through the velodrome hill one last time, and Rodger went down nearly taking me out. I had about a 4 inch section of course to work with (see above video) and some how got around. I thought this was going to be a really good chance for us to drop him going into the Sprint. But some how he got back on his bike and stuck right to my wheel. We were still really tight and the pace was getting quicker with just a few more mins left to the race. I was now in 3rd going into the last set of barriers. We all went through about the same time. Rodger was on my bike side so I did not have a lot of room to put my bike down. The I stepped on Joe's heel. This broke my rhythm a little and caused me to be the last on back on my bike which put me back in 4th. Up the final hill and onto the pavement. I was out of the lead 3's slip stream. They started to attack which left me no chance to catch back on in the last few meters. I missed the sprint for 1st place by 3 seconds and took a hard fought 4th place. By far this is the best race I had all season if not one of the best cross races I ever had...

Great job to all 6 of my Team Sandbag team mates for coming out racing, drinking and cheering me on! You guys helped make this a special day for me.

And thanks to everyone else for cheering me on. It was loud and crazy! I could hearing people screaming for me around every turn! Awesome!!!!!!

Great Job to --
Jim Goerlich for his first CX win!
Mark Parmelee for another Elite win!
Brian Wachlarz for another B win!
Mark Caffyn for not giving up after dropping his chain and still snagging a podium!
JB Hancock top 10 in Elites again!
Andy Fedwa for snagging a top 3 in the B's!
Jarod Makowski for jumping out of B's and into Masters and having a great result!

There were a lot of other great rides today, so sorry if I missed any one. These are the ones that stuck in my head.

Next Stop: Michign State Cyclocross Championship at Springfield Oaks!