The MOB Makes a Splash at Clear Lake

Contributed by Travis Jass







Saturday in the crit only 8 of us lined up. Everyone got off to a great start and stayed pretty much together for the first two laps. When we turned parallel to the lake shore on lap 3, the strong cross/headwind broke up the bunch into a lead group of 4, of which I made it into, and a then just a couple that chased hard. The chasers came and went and by the time we had a couple more laps behind us, a gap came between a lead rider and second, and between second and myself. Another rider would catch me and fall back a couple more times before the final lap.

I could no longer see 1st place but second wasn't more than 6 or 8 seconds ahead. I put down what I thought was probably my best lap of the race and coming up the final uphill stretch I gave it everything I had left to get within maybe 10 meters of 2nd. Close but not close enough.

Sunday's road race brought a bigger field to the Cat. 5 lineup. We had a neutral roll out from the Surf Ballroom that served as a warm up for most of us. I sat in at the back of the pack and conspired with an A9Y rider to let the winner from the crit pull us along and we'd work together at the end. We turned and had a strong cross/tail wind and we were expecting someone to attack when the wind would be pushing us. Somebody got impatient and started attacking.I barely held on to the back but once we did turn with the wind I as in good shape once again. I was feeling good and a little froggy so I rolled up next to the A9Y rider and asked how he felt about making a break for it. He thought it was on the early side yet, and as soon as I said it, someone attacked again on some little rolling hills that kind of snuck up on me. I fell back and then the "I spoke to soon about feeling good" thought went through my head.

I fought hard for 2 or 3 miles to catch back up and as I did the group started to shatter. The A9Y rider dropped, then another and another. Soon it we were down to 8 or 9 guys with NI Spin well represented. It wasn't long and one NI Spinner sat up grabbing a hammy cramp. He fell back and two of his teammates went back with him. I looked back to see if all was well. As I straightened back out I realized that two riders had a good sized gap on the remaining 4 of us. I figured what the heck I'll bridge up and the 3 of us (one was the crit winner) should be able to make it stick right?

The harder I pedalled the further I was from them and we were turning into the headwind. I figured when I hit the turn, I was back about 30 or so seconds. All I could think at that point was to put my head down and do not get caught by any organized effort behind me. After 4 or 5 miles of suffering and not gaining or losing time to the lead two, and to afraid to look behind me, we turned into short stretch of a crosswind. I got the courage to look back and surprisingly no one was there....for a long way.

The corner marshalls at the next turn said the wind would push us back the rest of the way and that it wasn't far now. Once again I mustered everything I had left, only to come up short in the end. I was closing fast and by the time I crossed the line I had the gap down to around 10 seconds.

All in all, it turned out to be a great weekend of racing and getting two podiums for the MOB. I also got to meet the Farrell brothers after the Cat. 4 crit Saturday. It was great meeting them and getting to cheer them on as they raced.