ATL: 5
Thirty plus riders today, with the one fellow Cameron who has won five of his last six races being the odds on favorite. The small hill is not enough to break up our group as we surge up it and ease up, the stiff headwind leading into the final turn giving pause to anyone going off the front. The first few laps feel hard so I was hesitant to try attacking all the time like the races at Atwater, but it eased up so I should have just gone with my initial reaction. Cameron went a few times but guys would bridge then just sit on his wheel. Kind of surprised other teams didn't try anything.
We would surge then slow up so much that it felt a little dangerous with all the swarming so with three to go I just went for it on the hill. Didn't get much of a gap and was slowly reeled in by the next time up the hill but no one wanted to pull through. At this point since I knew Mitch was still there but not behind me, I just got as small as possible and tried to string out the group for as long as possible which turned out to be one more lap. On the bell lap there was another big surge, I got gapped and I almost got back on to lead group of fifteen or so just as they sprinted out of the last corner.
Felt ridiculously fresh at the end and wishing I had tried attacking more often to split the group up, the pack really didn't break up until there was a crash with two to go way behind me. We went almost a mile an hour slower this year, not having junior phenom Eamon pulling us around for the whole race made a huge difference.
T: 42:02
S: 37.0
C: 99
H: 177
Pavg: 191
Pnorm: 223
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