Mason Lake #1

Here's my sad little hack at a race report...

Mason Lake 1 (my first ever road race = lots of lessons to learn) was mostly sunny and pretty nice, with a nice turnout despite the dire forecasts. The only meteorological challenge was a nasty wind, which made a mockery of any attempts to get away in our race (despite what seemed to me to be some serious blocking efforts going on up front). The Joe Bar Two represented with a nice appearance near the front for most of the first lap of the Master C/D race (Lesson 1: Don't blow your wad on the first lap unless it is a 1 lap race). As J wisely settled into position to let others do the work of chasing people, I squeaked by a block in a sad attempt to join said people being chased. A minute of hammering resulted in little more than the pack getting a free ride for that same amount of time (Lesson 2: Don't half-ass an escape attempt). I did get an "atta boy" as I passed the other dude who made it by the block, so I got that going for me.

J positioned himself nicely in the front third for laps two and most of three, while I sucked wind for a lap and experienced the frustration of the accordion (Lesson 3: Don't sit in the back of the pack thinking it will be a nice place to recover). After finding the support vehicle right behind me in the early miles of lap three I managed to squirm my way back up next to J in the closing kilometers, and we both entered the sprint poised for top 20 finishes...

Unfortunately the sprint didn't work out too well for either of us. For me a lack of good position (Lesson 4: Don't to left like everyone else does in the sprint) quickly followed by the will to sprint for 30th being sucked out of me, while J positioned himself nicely but as he put it "was in the wrong gear or something". The sprint drills will commence until the results improve.

The Bottom Line:
J: 25th
Jason: 37th

Cheers,
Jason