Fallen Leaf

What a great day for the last road race this year,the sun was out and 70 degrees all 50 miles.The race was safe and fast,we avg just under 24mph.The teams racing were,Savagehill,The Indiana Hand Center,Team Dayton,Donatos and GEORGE.Their were alot of attacks,Pete of Donatos would not let us rest,his attacks were one after another.No breakaways got to far down the road.The Indiana team asked George to breakaway with them,he gave them that funny look.George finished 3rd and most of the Indiana team were behind us.

It was a perfect day for a season finale, sunny, temps in the low 70s, and light winds. I arrived at Caesar's creek looking forward to a fun, hard race to end the season. The field did not disappoint. Everyone showed up ready to put the hammer down and wring out whatever was left of their late season form. As a result this turned out to be one of the most enjoyable races of the season.

This was also one of the most strategic races of the season. For 60 miles break after break went up the road, sometimes gaining a minute + advantage before being reeled back. Often the breaks would start out benignly with a few weaker guys rolling off the front. But inevitably there would be counter attacks and bridges and suddenly the break would become a threat. Each time a break started to look dangerous we had to calculate who was in the break, who was blocking, who would chase, organize the chasers and bring the break back. This was one race where it would have been great to have a few teammates. I could only cover so many breaks and only do so much chasing on my own. Thankfully the field was motivated and it was pretty easy to recruit help. A big thanks goes out to Unizan, Miami U., I.U., and the independent riders who were willing to step it up and work when needed, especially around the aggressive blocking of IPro (those guys were actually fighting for wheels to disrupt the chase).

Late in the race a pretty threatening break had formed. The field kept getting close, but each time they did more horse power would jump up to the break and the chase would lose steam. I realized this was a critical move to cover. I kept getting gaps just driving the chase so I decided I may as well go for a bridge. Graciously Ezra (from Unizan) came with me and helped despite the fact that he had a teammate up the road. When we got halfway up to the break he turned and said "You gotta go now. I'm going back to block. May the force be with you". Unfortunately the force was not with me. I got within 50 yards of the break and just blew up. I dropped backwards like a rock into the field which was in full chase mode again.

Over the last lap and a half the field slowly made up time on the break and it looked like everything would be back together soon. But in the last miles, as the capture looked certain, the stronger riders in the break attacked. The surge up front shed all but two riders. The gap was still closing down, but very slowly now. It was going to come down to the wire. The finish line was soon in sight, the leadout was started, and just like a classic pro peloton finish, the final capture was made just as the sprint started.

Because everyone had raced so hard, the sprint was more a race of attrition than anything else. People were cracking all around me and the leaders of the sprint were only a few yards up the road going nowhere fast. My legs seemed to be as good as anyone's and I made up a few spots near the end to finish 8th overall.