It's Starting To Come Together

This past Sunday was the Koppenburg road circuit race, an annual favorite of mine. The race is a 5.5 mile circuit (multiple laps), with almost half of that distance on dirt roads. Traditionally, the race is all but decided in the first 2.5 miles or so, where the first time up "the climb"--a short 17% grade dirt climb, basically wide enough for two riders side by side--becomes a bottle-neck that allows the riders smart/fortunate enough to be in front, to create a break from the rest of the group. In this iteration of the race there were 20-30 mph winds, along with an absence of the usual potholes in the road on the leadup to the climb. This allowed a much larger group to stay together at the front of the race, and the final groups weren't formed until at least the third time up the climb (out of 6 ascents).
I stayed in good position, though at one point I got caught at the back of the group when four riders slipped off the front. For some reason most of our group was not motivated to chase, and after a couple individual attacks and attempts to jump to the front group, my group was down to four. The chase was on, and while we came very close at one point, we never caught the front four. Amazingly, a 5280 rider (junior program for TIAA/CREF) soloed and caught my group, and then attacked us and almost caught the front group by himself. I was able to drop the rest of the guys in my group the last time up the climb, and crossed the line in sixth place--less than a minute down from the winner. I am very satisfied with my performance, considering my digestive problems of last week, though I am still disappointed that I missed the winning break.
My team (Colavita Olive Oil/Cooking Light) had a strong showing at the race, with seven riders. My teammate Steve was in the next group behind mine, and made sure that his group did not catch mine. Steve was able to beat most of the guys in his group, and came across the finish in eleventh place.
Next weekend, I'll be heading out to California for the Sea Otter Classic. I'll be competing in the mountain bike Short Track XC race on Saturday, and the XC on Sunday. This will be my first mountain bike race of the season (my latest start in the last five years). I've only had my race bike together for less than two weeks (see pictures), but have it pretty dialed. I'm looking forward to seeing how a 5 inch travel full suspension bike will do in the short and intense Short Track races this season.