The plan was simple. Since my form is in real question I knew I could roll off the front for a while and wait in the break till a couple of my teammates came up. The race started like it did last year with me going off the front in the first mile. Once I looked back I instantly had a huge gap and a couple of dudes from the other big team were bridging across. Perfect, I knew at that point it was going to be a long 106 miles being in the break (with a guy who was wearing lucky number 13, upside down of course). The main sections weren’t really that interesting, just a lot of 53/11/12/15 powering the break away. We had no clue on time splits so we just rode at a tempo pace.
Going through the second dirt section with the $100 prime I knew I was going to be in trouble. So I made a deal with the dudes to split it. That was a wise deal on my part because I got dropped on the big hill. Half way through that section I saw a rider coming up fast. It was Jonny Sundt (Kenda). I thought great, he can pull me back up. He slowed down and let me catch on and told me he was chasing us for a couple hours and we had over 10min gap and it was over.
Once he started to pull it was obvious to me that I need to just hang on. He was pulling a lot harder than us and I was failing fast. But at least he let me stay on till we caught those other guys. After a few miles I just couldn’t hang on and we still had one dirt section left and about 30ish more miles. I was extremely mad and sad to see them ride away and I may even cried a bit. I knew that that was the winning break and I was in it for so long but couldn’t do my job any longer.
I had a 10min gap and I was on my own. I just put my head down and went as hard as I could. I was still in 4th place and could maybe hold on to it. With maybe 10 miles to go I was caught by Mike Olheiser (Team JuwiFirst-Solar) and Cesar Grajales (Real Cyclist) I guess the Columbian didn’t want me to catch on so they agreed to sprint by me. I gave it a few pedal strokes but couldn’t hang. Time to put my head down again, I was still in 6th. A few more miles Christian Helmig from Elboz rode by. I didn’t even try to get on. Okay… still in 7th. After a few more miles a group 5 or 6th caught me and a face I’ve been looking all race showed up ADAM! I told him I was dead and wouldn’t be much of a help. I rotated a few times and sat on the back then got dropped with about 3 km to go. Adam finished 10th and I got 12th.
Jonny flatted and those remaining 2 won the race. They went coast to coast with the win. So that’s 2 years in a row I’ve been in the break, last year I was 42. This year 12th. I would like to thank Plano Cycling & Fitness for all their help, The Merry Miler for all her fun and of course PACC! Next year baby… next year!
Watt Up!
