GVCC Spring Classic: Bloomfield
There was a multitude of great racing going on in my area this weekend; Paris-Ancaster, Battenkill-Roubaix and the GVCC Spring Classic. Seeing as I didn’t feel like traveling and wanted to catch up with some old friends and a get in a nice day of training, the choice was to head down the road and race locally.
I haven’t really raced the road bike in a few years. Granted I’ve done my fair share of group rides, but you never really get that full on race feeling till you turn the pedals with a number pinned on your back. It was good to get back in the swing and pin my nose to the stem and taste blood again. Actually, it hurt like a mother effer’ and wanted to quit after the second lap.
Race was pleasant thru the neutral rollout, then fireworks started somewhere around the 2nd or 3rd lap. I can’t really remember. All I know is that 9 or so select riders rolled off and our group sat up and watched em roll away. A few went up and a few came back. It was kinda pleasant to roll for a bit and chat with the group and let that taste of blood dissipate.
The course seemingly rolled on and felt like we weren’t ever getting anywhere. A few times, there were questions of what lap we were exactly on, followed immediately by a large number of sighs and grumbles from our chase group.
With a 2 laps to go, few started getting antsy and there was a rider stuck out in no mans land. A few rolled off the front and our group started to get organized and give chase. A rider bridged up to the 3 ahead and rolled on past them. I worked with the group I was in and across the backstretch of the course, was able to drop them and bridge up to the group and rolled on past em. Naturally as we were close to the line, they jumped on and I towed to the line. Gave a quick effort to see if I could thin some legs, onluy to realize I was still a bit away from the line. 200m to go gave the good ol’ college try and sprinted to the line. I might have won the sprint for our group and if I lost it, it was only by a tire width.
Ended up finishing 12th, but didn’t check the results close enough if I won the sprint or not. No big deal, I had a blast, had fun and ripped out some super wattage. As is par for me, my legs came around on the last few laps. Where were they in the beginning? Guess that’s the bane of being an endurance racer.
Looking forward to racing the Ramble around Prattsburgh next weekend. Will be reconning the course on Wed night and putting some time in on the cross bike to prep.
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