RATL 3 - Masters

First week racing at Cat 3 level. I jumped in the Masters 35+ race with about 25 others. Rick Pudoka, Joel, and Marshall joined me in the race. Just before the start, we got some good tactic info from Rick Parr, and we were off.

Starting pace was much lower than the previous week. After a couple laps, some good attacks started. Based on Rick's advice, I had my eye on a few people and made sure I was in any moves that they were in. I was fairly aggressive at the front, and was able to mark several moves. I especially was ready for something to happen after the first burrito prime. Sure enough, a good group got together for probably 1/2 a lap, but that move was brought back.

The next significant move came on the next prime lap. There were 5 of us with a small gap and we worked well again for about 1/2 a lap, but the $10 prime kept us from continuing to work together. The field was on us again.

With about 4 to go, Dick Brink from RGF jumped and got a decent gap. A Spin rider soon joined him. I was a bit tired from marking some moves and was waiting for someone else to initiate a bridge attempt, but nobody did. The gap built up and with 2 to go, it was apparent that was the winning move. The field was content to go to a finish sprint. I knew that there were some strong sprinters, but I was feeling very good also, so this would be a good test to see how I matched up against some guys I have very little racing experience with.

I was on Tom Frueh's wheel coming out of the parking lot and was sitting about 4th wheel overall. Speed started ramping up at about 700m to go and we were just catching the women's field. This could cause havoc at the finish, so I made sure I was well up at the front. As we crossed the bridge and ramped up the sprint, we were passing the women's field, so this helped limit the amount of people able to come up from the back. Tom was pulling away up the hill and I was with about 4 others at that point. My sprint felt good, but wasn't enough to overtake the closest guys, so I rolled over the line 4th in the sprint, but it was enough to nab the final payout spot.

Overall, a successful race day for me and I'll be looking forward to the final RATL next week.