Top Ten

So far, my first season as a Cat.2 cyclist has been un-eventful - a collection of DNFs at a variety of races. Whether they were the result of working too hard, being caught in the wrong spot, or even being in a crash - the result was the same. Did Not Finish.
This all changed with my ride at OVRR - a combination of good fitness, better understanding of the Pro/1/2 field, and luck provided me with a solid 14th for the day. Sure, that is outside the points. Sure, it is possible it was a fluke. I didn't care, it was finally a result for the year, and that was the proof I needed that my work was paying off.
Fast forward and we were lining up for the Ravensdale road race - or more appropriately a circuit race, since we don't ride enough for it to qualify (and as a result, points are only 6 deep instead of 10). I am feeling great, but what is more important is that our team is running well - Andrew was the captain for the race, and had just cleaned up at the Tuesday race at PR. Our goal was to watch for breaks and get in any that could be dangerous, or run it in for Andrew and Mike R to contest the sprint.
The Ravensdale course is broken into two parts - the front stretch is a combination of false flats and rolling short climbs. Once you reach the corner, you get some respite as the course flattens out and even has some small downhill sections to let you get caught back up. There are then a few small corners and a short climb as we move into the final section - some short climbs and fast decents.
The race started out fast from the gun, as the neutral roll-out was mis-handled and racing began almost immediately. I managed to get into the front half of the peloton to watch out, but also stay out of the trouble of the strung out field. We hit the rollers and were hauling down the front stretch. This high pace continued for the first two laps. As we hit the corner I took advantage of the repositioning and moved up to the front group. This was perfect, since I was able to change pace with the race without dealing with the whip in the back of the pack.
After a few small attacks, the pack was still keeping together, and the group settled down a little. By keeping myself toward the front of the group, I was able to watch a lot of the attacks and make sure that we were covering any of the big moves.
The race continued in this manner until the last few laps when the speed picked up again. Now it was more important to watch your position as the peloton was more focused and getting into new spots was more difficult. As we were heading toward the last lap, two riders had a good break off the front. Andrew knew they were a dangerous pair and chased after them, which increased the speed of the pack to chase them all down again.
The final lap was again a full-speed affair. As we hit the final corner I was about 1/3 back from the front, but got into a better spot as we climbed the biggest of the front hills. Normally the finish is only a few hundred meters from the top and people began to attack as if this were the same. The new finish this year was about 2km further than normal, so it was hard to decide where to attack for the finish. I just made sure to keep up speed and stay a few riders back. The speed got pretty high, but I stayed on the wheels in front of me and as we launched the final run-in I was in great position. As we crossed the line, a rider from HSP took the win, but Mike R took in 6th, Mike S was 7th, and I came across 9th! Top ten is pretty awesome after my dry-spell earlier this year, but since the race was only 63 miles, it counted as a circuit race and points only went 6 deep. Oh well, we are heading into criterium season - lets see what results I can manage there.