Cold spring is the closest road race to my home. This is one reason I decided to do this race this year, another reason I decided to do this race is because last year I raced it and crashed out.
Last weekend (weekend before the race) our group was getting ready for our local group ride when we just realized that we where going to get rained out. So the rest of the came back to my house and we looked at the radar map and found out that it is dry in Coldspring, So me, my dad and the other members drove up there for a ride. This was also a good idea to see what the hills where like as well. After the ride I was definitely looking forward for the race.
All that week I knew I was going to race the cat 4s, and win this category you need some sort of plan, so I asked the two people I knew would know what to do, Darrel Edward and James Karthauser. Surprisingly I got two very different opinions. Darrel's plan was to sit in the pack and conserve my energy for the sprint, while James' plan was to attack and attack till I get away and no one can stay with me.
At the start of the race I decide to make a compromise and make a few smart attacks. At the start of the race my field had >50 people, which meant for a tactical race. I was at the starting next to my two teammates Alex Pincus (dad) and Blake Collier (San jose). well as the race started there was a few attacks on the faster flatter sections making the start of the race fast than normal. Well for the flat section I was just doing low watts and getting in position to get ready to attack the hilly section. Once we got to the first hill I was finally in position to make my move, and on the very next hill I attacked. As I looked back I noticed a small reaction from the pack which made two more riders bridge up to me for a small brake of three after the first hill I attacked. As the pack moved to the next couple hills five more guys where able to bridge making a group of eight riders off the front. This breakaway hit the flat section about 5 second ahead of the main group and all I was saying "rotate!" all that went through my head was, this is my break, and we're going to do it right. Once we got the rotation going smoothly all I was hoping for was that my teammates where back in the pack blocking, and they where. by the time we went through the Start/ finish line we had a 30 second gap and then we decided to hit hard in the hills one more time to try to gain more precious second over the field. as we merged through the hills for the last time we where still gaining time Thanks to some committed teammates in the pack. But the race was still not over, we had another 6-8 miles to finish the race so I got the rotation going again. With one mile to go our pack started to do some cat and mouse tactics and started jockeying around for position. I was in second position heading up the hill (not the worst/ nor the best position) As the sprint came I was able to go around my man and get on the wheel of the guy sprinting around me, but I just couldn't get around him, my legs where shot. I was able to get 4th place and was able to get my breakaway to stick.
So all in all it was a good day for results and for team work
Go Pearland
