CBR Ride it Like You Stole It (4/10/2011)

All season I'd waited for a shot at improving my standing in CBR. Some Sunday when Swami's wouldn't control the outcome. As it happened, there was a conflict on this day and Dale Luedtke had no teammates on hand. This was my chance. Things didn't take long to develop. About ten minutes in a four man break had formed and had a six second lead. An SBW rider was dangling between. The points prime in these things usually comes up prior to halfway. I couldn't let that go, so I jumped. The catch took a whole lap and the SBW rider locked on my wheel as I came up. I pulled up and left the last bit to him as we closed in.

So now there's a six man break. Rich Keegan, a very strong 60+, had been driving the pace before I got there. My goal was to grab the points prime and keep the break going. This was pure gold, no-one else in the break was near the top of the points standings so if we finish out front I leap-frog up in the overall rankings. Besides Rich there were Alex Rodriguez, Rino Barbagiovanni, Brian Carrico and Tom Buescher. Six different teams, who was going to chase?

My concern right then was Fred Hoblit. I knew he wouldn't drag the pack up to us with a teammate in the break, but he's not going to give me the prime points without a fight. The prime would come soon (it's not fixed at a particular lap, but is always in the first half of the race) so I totally stepped on it. Nobody contested with me for the points and after some early scrambling we settled down to working together. Afterward I found out that Fred had jumped out of the pack and came within five seconds of us at one point. He must have temporarily opened a ten second or larger gap on the pack all by himself. Impressive!

Rino and Alex were under pressure, but hung in. Brian was okay and I thought Tom was mostly along for the ride. Everyone took his turn (mostly) at the front, but I'd say with some confidence that Rich and I drove the pace. Rich would take the bulk of the long uphill on the start/finish leg while I pulled us over the hump at the back into turn three. I could tell Brian, Rich and Alex were throwing everything they had into it. Tom was unreadable. I got the feeling he wouldn't be a problem at the finish.

I guess that I didn't actually believe we'd hold out. Then I saw the back of the pack as we rolled into the a long straight. I was kind of shocked. With five to go it almost looked like we could have lapped the pack. I guess I'm too unused to success. At this point I had five points in the bag, I knew that, aside from Rich, the other guys in the break were showing signs of wear. So I made the only mistake of the day. In my mind I counted this as a "win" since I'd get the most points on the day even if I finished somewhere in the middle. Maybe I thought the others owed me for some reason.

I pulled in behind Rich and he led the group into the final straight. When I saw Brian wasn't responding I went around Rich (who was guaranteed a 60+ win as they are scored separately) and headed for home. As it turned out, Tom had saved something for the finish. I think that the others in the break were a bit ticked off afterward at the concept of "saving" anything in these circumstances. Tom went around me with maybe 100 feet to go. Caught me by surprise as I was looking for Brian who had seemed stronger. I finished second.

I was pissed at first. I really think he wouldn't have even been there had I not come by and swung in where he could get to my wheel. But that's bike racing. He doesn't owe me a thing. Let me tell you the other thing about bike racing. There's no way I'm helping him up to a break ever again. The others I'd go out of my way for because I know I can count on them not to sandbag. This isn't malice, it's just common sense. Something I need to work on.

On the plus side I won a little cash and jumped from sixth to fourth in the standings. Not only that I had a fair gap on fifth and was closing in on Rick Shorts and Fred Hoblit. That's some fast company. Dale Luedtke is so far ahead it's not funny. At least I've got the chance to fight for second.