San Ardo Road Race

Race Report: San Ardo Road Race

Date: 8/22/09

Place: 2^nd/ ~15

What a surprisingly chilly morning! I was not feeling particularly chipper this week but I love this road race so I decided to give it a whirl. Unlike last year’s pretty awesome field, today’s field was relatively small, but still mighty. We rolled out calmly for an uneventful (besides a pee-break as a master’s field passed us) first lap. The second lap saw a few attacks, but nothing that stuck for very long. The final lap we played yo-yo with the men’s 35+ 4,5 field which was funny. They passed us and then slowed up and some girls launched attacks through their field, I assume with the idea of confusing the peloton. Coming into the final half of the last lap three riders set a nice tempo on the long, flat, straight section that I love so much. As we came in sight of the start area a Davis rider attacked and I jumped on her wheel. The next to launch was the Touchstone lead-out. I jumped to her wheel, maintaining my second place position. As we came through the feed zone and approached the underpass a rider came barreling up on my right and I reflexively jumped to grab the wheel. Only then did I realize that I had jumped on to a masters Morgan Stanley rider from the 45+ field! I glanced right and saw Shin (sorry about that Shin!!). I hesitated for only a moment in the apex of the final left-hand turn and then got swarmed by master’s sprinters. Just as it was too late to regain momentum I saw one woman from my field sprint wide out of the swarm and I knew I was beat. It is too bad that we had to get all jumbled up because this is one of my favorite finishes in local racing. Next year I won’t hesitate J PS Great lead-out by the master’s men!

Thanks for reading!

Lauren