wakefield #3

another wakefield race, another good results... rain was looming all afternoon and as i started my preride lap i could hear thunder off to the east from a storm that seemed to be popping up just on the other side of the beltway. the rain started in earnest as i got back from my preride and i sheltered under the tailgate to wait for word on the race. twenty minutes before the scheduled start the rain started letting up and we got word that we were on. rode the first part of the course to see what effect the rain had (very little) and see how slick the boardwalk sections were, then did a run up the start hill and then went back to line up.

the singlespeed class looked small at first, but eventually it swelled to over 20 riders. a couple of conspicuous no-shows - ricky, joe p, butch - but a good field none the less. my start was ok, no wrecks to avoid this week. got a bar-end tangled up in something coming out of the creek crossing at the end of salamander and lost a couple of places but managed to keep up a good pace.

on the climb back into the powerlines a couple of riders, including blake from the bike lane passed me and i scrambled to catch his wheel as we rode down the powerlines. knowing that i'd blown up a bit on the last lap two weeks ago i held off a bit and tucked in behind him for the rest of the lap. knowing that i could ride a harder pace than he was holding i came around him at the end of the first lap, just before the start finish. i lost one more place as a rider that'd been on my tail came around me on the climb back into the powerlines on the 2nd lap. i think he managed to get past a couple more riders and i thought i was gaining on the riders ahead of me by the last lap, but problems getting past a lapped beginner rider left me with more time than i could make up.

i ended up 13th of 23 starters, not a bad result. i liked the shorter course since there was less chance to be caught on the long flats... i dialed my effort back a bit on the first lap after having a pretty big drop-off in my 3rd lap 2 weeks ago, but with the shorter course i probably could have ridden a bit harder, since i didn't feel anywhere near as worked as i was 2 weeks ago.