Kensington and Cone Recap

This past weekend was a first for me in it being that the Tour of Kensington Valley and Cone Azalia were on back-to-back days. So we left for Kensington Metropark at 5 am and arrived to less than customary bike weather. Temps were in the 40's and clouds were looming, not to mention there are reports of up to 40 MPH wind gusts. Knowing this I figured not many people would really want to race their bikes, but I did! So, I figured....... hell, why not go right from the gun???? Well I got a small gap and realized my shifter was still toast and sat up to see how things would develop. Not even a mile later and Trae (teammate) rolled off the front, in what wasn't even an attack. So, for all of the SC boys we just had to guard the front and make sure no one tried to do anything to bring Trae back into the group. As the race neared the halfway point, I literally was thinking to myself that the weather was rubbish and wanted to call it a day, which was a first for me in any race. Next thing I know, we are going through the dicey gravel turn-around and coming out I see a massive gap. I did not hesitate and thought to myself, THIS IS THE MOVE! So I went and bridged solo to a chase group of 2 or 3, one of whom was my teammate Todd. I went right to the front and laid it down. I saw that there was still a group of 6-7 ahead of us and Mark was in that group. I literally made an effort that I thought would make me explode, but about 90 seconds later there we were. The group had 11 guys in it, 3 of which were representing SC Racing. So, doing the math I realized we had 4 out of the top 14 guys in the race. From that point on, it was touch and go. There was no way I was going to work with anyone in our group to jeopardize Trae's lead. Once we realized that everyone had dropped out after our group got established I took it upon myself to try and drop guys who had just sat in all day long. Well, it worked for the most part, as we came to the last climb with 7 guys left in our group and I figured Mark could do his thing in the uphill sprint. So, I jumped off the front about a mile before the last climb only to get caught halfway up the climb. From there it was just hold on for the ride as the "sprint" was coming up. I did my version of a slow motion sprint to the line and we came away with 3rd for Trae, 6th for Mark, 8th for myself, and 12th for Todd. So, all in all, Trae, Mark and myself got paid and picked up some good points in the point series. After the race we went and spent some time at our sponsors shop...... which I will not comment on.
With lack of sleep and proper rest, the next morning we were up at 8 am and Zach Maino prepared a excellent breakfast of eggs toast and fruit. Big thanks to him for the hospitality and putting up with our shit. We got to Cone Azalia late and hurried to get ready. I have never arrived at the staging area for a race so late. No warmup, no gloves, no knee warmers...... very unprepared. Cone is always a crapshoot anyway. If your lucky enough not to puncture, then maybe you have a decent shot. That is if the gravel and dirt sections do not destroy your legs during the race. From the gun one of the leadout boys hit the gas, and knowing that I do not like to sit in the back in the gravel sections I joined him. One thing led to another and after the first gravel section we lost about 7 guys from the race due to punctures. From that point on it was just a race of attrition. I tried to attack countless times, only to see none other than one of the Leadout boys chasing me down. One time I actually heard a "guess who" from one of them as he came up to join me. There were times in the race when we would be doing 30+ MPH and times where we would be doing 13 MPH. Needless to say it was frustrating. Anyhow, as things progressed we lost Trae and Nate to flats in the gravel sections. So it was left to Mark and myself, and Mark had told me his legs were fried. I on the other hand was hurting, but in no way was I going to race for second place. It came down to 10 guys left coming out of the final dirt section. I made a little dig and the group was like flies on shit. It would come down to a sprint and being one of the lightest guys in the remaining riders, not exactly ideal for me. One guy who sat in for the majority of the day hit out at the 1K to go sign and it was single file from there. I realized then that even getting onto the train of the first four guys was hard, so I would not be able to stand up and sprint. I did my seated grind to the finish and the Leadout boys took 1-2, while I was left taking a 5th. Mark came in right behind me in 8th, and Trae rode solo for 11th. Nate also came in solo a few minutes later for 13th. All things considered it was a good weekend for us on the SC team and we got some feedback on what we can do better for the coming races. Congrats to the 2 boys from Leadout racing for going 1-2 after laying down multiple attacks and covering my every move. I may have started most of the aggression in the race, but they finished it off.