was bound to be a fast one as panther duo andy and paul came out to dish out some pain. usual early attacks went down and i stayed back watching...
as laps dwindled down a little, i was sitting behind paul and noticed he looked twitchy just as we were about to catch a small break group. i stuck on his wheel, he ramped it up 30mph+ and immediately we had a small group of about 10'ish riders.
some were working, some were not, gap grew, gap got smaller. and then we were caught again.
so it would be a sprint. i was originally in bad position, getting boxed out early, but found my way around and wound up dead center of the pack and sprinting all out. i would get the rgf sandwhich - dave got first, i ended up second and bob wound up third.
chapel hill - thursday worlds
crazy corner course with crazy high temps. race start saw the temperature well above 90 and made the pavement seemingly slippy. i have always adjust pressure down in the tires for better grip, but never thought of doing that for a crit. got to think these things out.
45 minutes plus 5 laps.
one neutral lap, then through the start finish and i had a brilliant idea to up the pace. that was immediately countered and then it seemed like a series of fast bursts and attacks came.
i got caught out, but was in small group with two riders chasing the main pack. a lap or two chase, the gap was close but the others cracked. head down, i powered to the main group and decided i would hang out for the rest of the race. just didn't feel great and it seemed like it was a little hard to breathe.
more surges, more gaps, one grew out a little far on the last corner. bob and i almost made it, then a surge came from the main group and they were off.
goal at this point was not to get lapped, just ride steady - and so we did. most of the riders in the main group got popped off leaving jeremy, phatty and shawn up front where they would eventually finish 1/2/3.
our group got a little bigger, then some riders got popped or pulled out. i seriously thought about dropping out myself about 1/2 way through.
dan got back in after a mechanical, pulled us around for a bit and then i snuck around him just before the corner after the start/finish to get a good gap which i held onto to the end for 4th. tough day in the sun.
sologoat out
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