Bow CAT5 <35, Andrew Schmitt, Aug 6
Had a decent cat5 < 35 race Sun. I registered the day of race, and received a 4xx number even though I was a cat 5. I didn’t think twice about it, even when the other CAT5’s said why do you have a 4xx number?. Hence, I mistakenly show up in the cat 4 results.
There were four of us. The only plan was to find each other on the last lap and figure something out. It was my first time racing the course. The hill was a real beast, something I had never experienced in a road race. The race was very safe with no crashes and extremely enjoyable.
I decided to push it on the very first climb and see what would happen. Dan Donovan took over close to the top.
A two man breakaway escaped during lap 2. No one would chase, though Dan and I tried. Randy Ayotte from Portland Velo won by 3:14. Huge for a CAT5.
I didn’t see the other two NEBC guys got dropped, but going into the last lap I couldn’t find them. Dan was still there with me at the start of the last lap.
I was suffering until the second 1/2 of the last lap and I started to
recover on the downhills. I found I could coast right to the front of the pack. I couldn’t find Dan. I started doing pacemaking on the last set of rollers, and on the last big climb 1-2 miles before the fire station turn (approx 200 ft) I noticed I was opening a gap. I kept the same pace and had a 30 yard gap at the top of the hill, and I decided to commit.
I eventually opened the gap to around 200 yards on the descent and had 100 yards at the fire station turn. I didn’t have the juice to keep the pace on the last kicker to the finish , and was swallowed by the pack with about 50 yards to go.
I think I finished around tenth, not that great. However, it was fun, and a great incentive to try another day.
Andrew