Early Bird #4

I was supposed to do the whole Early Bird series this year but for one reason or another, including the coast ride and work, this was the first and last one that I'd get to do.    I rode over with Billy, Jordan and Drew, we added Dylan Casey on the way.  We left Palo Alto around 2:20 PM for the 40 minute ride.

My legs weren't feeling too bad after the Grasshopper but there was certainly a bit of soreness deep inside.

The first few laps were fast enough with the Specialized guys trying to get a group away.   About half way through I made my way to the front and found myself on Dylan's wheel, he looked like he was moving up with a purpose and about 15 seconds later he attacked, I went straight after him and got on his wheel.  About half a lap later we had 5 other guys and were opening up a large gap.  This was looking great!  I did some big efforts and we had a good group rolling through, then something went wrong.  

An argument started between Dylan and a guy on the Safeway team, I have no idea what caused it but most likely it was over how hard Dylan was pulling through and how little work the Safeway guy was doing.  This caused everyone to sit up and our momentum was lost.  About a lap later we were caught.

A few laps later another big Specialized attack went and that was it, there was no way the remaining teams were catching that group of ex/current National and World champions.  From that point on I just sat in and rested.  

With 2 laps to go I moved to the front and found Drew's wheel, Billy was also moving up to have a go in the sprint.  I waited for Drew to launch but he never went so I rolled around him and found some clear ground.  I was close to the front but didn't contest the sprint.  It was a no points EB race and not worth the risk.  I was happy with where I ended up considering how big a weekend it had been.

We rode back to PA in a big group and I got back to my truck just before it got dark.

It was a good finish to a great weekend of racing.   Now it's a rest week and time to recover before the Valley of the Sun Stage race on Feb 9th.  Time for some bike cleaning and ceramic bearing upgrades on my race wheels.