Koppenburg!

Today's race went perfectly for me. I had a decent start, moved up well on the first dirt stretch, and was like 2nd over the "Koppenburg" wall the first lap. I was expecting the break to go then, but nothing happened. No one really wanted to ride because it was crazy windy. I sat in for another lap, and made the selection over the wall the next lap. I think there were 9 or 10 of us, and we rode in that group for a lap or two until someone hit the wall pretty hard and drew 5 of us out of that original selection. There was a 5280 kid, an U23 National Team kid, 1 Echelon rider, an Al's rider, and one CPT guy I think. I guess that is 6 of us, but the Al's kid and the 5280 rider both flatted on different laps, so there were 4 of us at the end.

I kept gapping the 3 of them when I'd pull through, so I had a good idea I was having a better day than them, so I just concentrated on playing everything conservatively. I have the problem of wasting a lot of energy when I'm feeling good, then it comes to a critical point and all of the sudden I'm not feeling it. Fortunately that didn't happen today. I attacked on a tailwind section with half a lap to go. I don't think anyone was expecting it, plus I was running an 11 tooth cassette and it didn't look like anyone else was, so I easily put a little time into them on the tailwind downhill section. I managed to hold my lead through the dirt section and up the Kopp, then across the line.

It was cool to feel so good in the first big ACA race of the year. Hopefully this form will stick around for a while because I'm really enjoying it so far. The Gila is still a month off, so a lot can happen between now and then, but luckily I've got some good advice and a pretty full schedule that should keep me from riding myself into the ground between now and then. I suppose I should get to bed, this time change is messing with me a little bit, and I have some homework to do in the morning. Thanks for stopping in, and be sure to check out all the Promontory and Oval pictures. Just follow the link below.