World Wide Woo: 2009 September 13 Folsom Cyclebration Two Bridges Circuit Race

CTL: 119
TSB: 14

For the last race of the omnium the top riders get callups, and so does the lantern rouge - proof -

There will be a race within the race, the three omnium riders are just going to watch each other, and today's larger field will make today's race more interesting - a lot of these riders should be fresh from not having race the prior two days and there are a couple of interesting hairpin turns and a nice hill to boot.

I am lucky enough to have three teammates today. Very early in the race disaster strikes the lead omnium rider as he gets entangled in the fencing in one of the hairpins and has to quit. I take a look around the reduced field and realized the second place rider is nowhere to be seen so I tell my teammates to relax and we can go for the win instead of just placing me higher than the other two omnium riders.

Peter spends about 80% of the race off the front in a long breakaway. Sam is initially close to him but can't close the gap and comes back to the pack. One lap after Peter is off, the second place rider in the omnium Rich shows up! It turns out we dropped him early and he clawed his way back - at this point I was just drafting Josh and hanging onto the back of the pack - if I could have *and* known I would have worked to make the pack go faster! Try to communicate the new situation to Sam but after the race it turns out he didn't hear me but am still able to use Sam to move up towards the end of the race, and Anthony gives me helpful advice to save some energy.

Anyways, Rich and I spend the rest of the race watching each other, move up and back in tandem. Peter gets brought back with one to go. I position myself near the front on the hill near the second bridge and Peter has one last burst to take us to the front but this leaves the steep part of the hill and I tire a bit and get swarmed. Fortunately for me, Rich only makes it a couple of riders ahead of me by the bottom of the hill/hairpin and I am able to sprint past him and put several other riders between us on the finish straight to get seventh and win the overall for the omnium.