RATL I

Yesterday was a beatiful day to kick off the RATL series for 2009. I entered the CAT IV race along with Greg Flecher, Brent Martin, Joel Schmidt, Bill Flecher, Dan Chirayath, and 'SWC' Mike Schiltz. We lined up with a total of ~25 or so riders. Snakebite had a few riders, along with Spin, but didn't see too many other team with significant numbers. We were doing 15 laps (18 miles).

As soon as we hit the start line, I ramped up the pace mainly to get warmed up. I then noticed that I had a slight gap, so I decided to get the day going with a flyer off the front. I hoped to pull one or two others out of the field to join me, but that just wasn't going to happen this early in the race. I lasted about 3 laps and when I rejoined the field, Greg attacked and drew out Scott from Snakebite. This coincided with the first of two prime laps. Greg and Scott battled it out, with Greg winning the first prime. The pack slowed a bit which allowed Greg and Scott to gain a 20+ second gap. That put our team in good position to mark any attempts to bridge up. Jason from Snakebite also would jump on the front to cover any moves and control the pace.

Bill (53x11) and an RGF rider were the main racers trying very hard to bridge up. They had bit of help from a Spin rider, but did not get too much help from the rest of the others in the pack and were marked quickly by us and Snakebite.

When the second prime lap was rung at about 5 laps to go, it was annouced as a field prime since Greg and Scott had a large gap at that point. I made sure to be in the first 5 places for the entire lap to be positioned well to go for it. I had Brent on my wheel, so he was also well placed for the sprint. We both got going for the sprint at the bridge, had a good gap on the rest of the pack, so Brent let me take it. We then eased up to rejoin the group.

The last 4 laps were fairly controlled as nobody made a serious effort to go solo off the front. On the bell lap, Mike Schiltz moved up to the front along with me, Joel, and Brent. Mike rolled a bit off the front and had a few seconds on the group. He maintained the gap through the parking lot, so I yelled for him to give it his all and see what he can do. Going throught the 'S' turns at the end of the parking lot, the RGF and 53x11 rider got tangled up and went down at the front of the field. I noticed Brent right with me. After Brent and I looked at each other, we realized that people made it through the crash and were starting to ramp it up, he decided to jump away to avoid pulling the field up to Mike. He was clear real quickly so I just waited for whoever decided to chase him down. Jason from Snakebite then moved to the front and pulled real hard from more than 500m out. I rode his wheel to the bridge when things ramped up for the sprint. We had overtaken Mike at that point and I gave it my all,. I was able to get around Jason, but didn't have enough to keep 3 others from getting around me before the line.

We ended up with Greg taking the win, Brent was 3rd overall, and I was 7th. Joel was right behind me in 8th. Snakebite did well too with Scott getting 2nd and another rider in the money. That was a real fun race...looking forward to next week!