Opus, first race of 2007
(report by Matthew Sterling)
Did my first race of the year tonight and it was awesome! Anyone that
hasn’t come out to Opus should really check it out. Here is a link to the
flier: http://www.mcf.net/misc
This was my first Cat. 4 race and it was fast. My original plan was to try
taking a flier off the front early in the race with the thought that if just
one or two others joined me we might stay out there to the finish. With the
stiff wind tonight I didn’t know if that plan was going to work and the
first couple laps were fast enough that it seemed unlikely that any breaks
would be able to stay away for long. Shortly after the first sprint a
Bicycle Chain rider made the move that I was thinking about but when I was
too far back to try joining him. Nobody else went with him either. He
might have gotten as much as 10 seconds on the pack but his attack never got
out of sight. After a lap of him suffering up there I decided to end his
misery and led a chase that pulled him in just in time for the second
sprint. At this point I was starting to question why I had even come out to
race at all, my plan for a breakaway hadn’t gone anywhere, and I hadn’t been
a contender for either of the sprints. It was looking like I was just going
to be pack fodder for the last sprint too. As soon as we got the bell for
the final lap the pace revved up and it was a battle for position near the
front all the way down the back end of the course. As we came around toward
the climb I was surprised to find myself pretty well positioned near the
front but there were a lot of strong riders up there and we were
surprisingly bunched up for how fast we were coming up around the bottom of
the hill. As we headed up the climb I found myself boxed in and desperately
started looking for any openings. At about 100 meters to go 2 Loon State
riders and another guy surged ahead and as others tried to follow enough
gaps opened up that I was able to shoot out of the group and found myself
hot on the wheels of the 3 battling it out for the finish. Although I
failed to catch them I easily took 4th and was thrilled to finish so well in
a race that just a couple laps earlier was looking to be a complete waste
for me.
Thanks for reading, hope to see some of you out at Opus. I was the sole
representative for the Gophers tonight. Good luck to everyone racing Durand
this weekend, wish I could join you.