Sterling

Today I did the infamous Sterling road race . In the past this has been a good,bad and very bad. Back in the day when I was a young pup it was a great, it was my type of course not to hilly, but not flat either . In the later part of my career it has been the race that put me over the edge . In the last few years doing the 1-2 races all spring by the time I hit this race I would be fried ! This is the big difference between masters and the feature , so when you hear guys say that "THE MASTERS RACE" IS HARDER THAN THE "1-2 Race", you can squarely look them in the eye and and know they are delusional. I'm not saying it's easy but, It ain't the 1-2's .

Now I can hop off my soap box and get down to the race . It started off at a good pace, two guys went off the front right away. I didn't think too much of it because we had 49 miles to go . For some reason, on the 2nd lap we caught the 45+ guys they must have started them late or something. I got a little nervous about gaps when we were going around them but it went smooth . We rolled at a respectable pace so I made sure I was at the front going up the climb to the start finish . It still amazes me the difference in fitness in these races, I mean there are guys huffing and puffing and climbing all over their bikes. Anyway I went on to the 3rd lap in the top 10 , I looked back and we had a split in the pack , so I went to the front with the "ROCK" from cvc and tryed to snap it into something, but the lack of willing participants snuffed that right out. This lap proved to be fast and steady. Once again I stayed near the front going up the climb this time in the top 5 hoping to get something going , as was Yarbrody and Ruis . Then midway up the false flat section I hear a tire blow like a shotgun . I though to my self that sucks for that dude , then realized he was me . FUCK !!!!!! Up goes my hand and I fall from the front to the back . I jumped off yanked off my wheel and the sram guys was right there with the new one in hand . I don't know this dudes name but let me tell you the fastest change I have ever had . I remount he gives me the big running start , and I said to my self self this is going to suck . Not one to disappoint my self it did ! The pack was out of site so I put my head down and started hammering . After about a mile I could see the pack and I was making ground fast on them , but wasn't having fun anymore . We were going down hill now and the Sram guy comes by in the Volvo and I slip on the back of him he brings us up to ramming speed then I just slingshoted off him and caught the pack on one of the little hills on the run to the main road rt20 I think . NICE !!!!! Something else I haven't been able to do in a few years also . I rolled right to the front and said what the hell and took a flyer across to a group that must have went during my chase . It seems that these guys are all trying to be in a move but not do any work ? That said, we go up the hill for the 5th time but nothing shakes lose . On the false flat section the ROCK and I started to hit it hard one after another, then Henk lent a hand with a Bike Rack guy , they got about two bike lengths and another Bike Rack dick gets in front of me and starts to slow down . I wedge my way between him and the ROCK and slammed his front wheel with my new sram zipp 404 , nice . This is when I need John Idone to to say making friends again Ron ? I also informed him if he did it again he would be scrubbing grass stain off his uniform . Anyway we kept hitting it until the turn on to rt25 . Then I was able to jump across to 2 guys who got a gap during the earlier action with a CCNS guy in toe . The four of us worked well until we approached the climb when the CCNS & Bike Rack guys got popped which spelled doom so I just made sure I made it over the hill before the field then waited . I relay need to get away because the sram cog was hopping all over in the back so I was limited on gears for the sprint . This was not to be there were two guys still at about 20 seconds and I don't know if they were the original guys or what but who knows they made it . We were going to sprint for 3rd . Rounding the corner to the hill I was in a good spot maybe 4 spots to far back but it was doable , My gear choice was 53/14 the only one it would stay in without hoping . This proved to be bad I was able to turn it no problem but two guys ground to a halt in front of me and I lost all my momentum and that was it , done I rolled in in maybe 10 or so FUCK . O"well that's bike racing . The point is that I had fun , right ?

FU