Snelling felt like one big Criterium. Even though I haven’t crashed in a while (kow) I am compelled to echo my teammate Kalman Zeiger's sentiment regarding the vulnerability I felt during this race. With the absence of a serious equalizer i.e. severe winds or any climb to speak of, this one stayed together the whole way through. 100 riders elbow to elbow for 3 hrs. Not exactly my idea of a great time.
Apparently though, a small breakaway did occur, against all odds. I wasn’t even aware of it until the end of the race. Our friend Connor Spencer snuck off the front at 2 ½ laps to go and stuck it out right till the very end and not a second longer. If you’ve seen the photos you’ll know what I’m talking about.
http://ronaldmariano.smugmug.com/gallery/7420578_xQim7#478260812_m4jpF-M-LB
So I suppose the only interesting area to report on would be the finish. A long straight shot down a very bumpy road- not Leesville bumpy- but still enough to force all of the riders to the extreme left side of the road was where we were confronted with the 1k marker as well as our own mortalities. The fact that there wasn’t a crash in the Cat 3 field was truly amazing. This stretch was where all of the positioning had to occur couple that with the field size, road condition, and soft sandy shoulder, and you definitely have a recipe for a few thrills. I pushed and hollered my way to about 20th when the field made the final right turn. I took it on the extreme left pulling a slight Dukes of Hazard/Tokyo Drift in order to shoot up along the left. Amazingly at about 400m my path was not only clear but I caught a great tow into about 8th or 9th at which point I thanked homey for the lift and went to check out the whole finish line thing. Guess I was a bit too slow- felt like I could have been in an easier gear- because I almost got nipped at the line. But what the hell? 3rd place isn’t so bad.
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