Seward Park 4-18-13

Wouldn't normally write up a report for a weekly race like Seward Park, but it was pretty epic yesterday... good or bad you be the judge.

Got there to register a bit early, thought I was late.  It was raining and cold/windy, forgot my base layer and only had a jersey, shorts, and arm warmers... oh and Nuun socks.  Not much "warm" up, but did open up the legs a bit on the course and saw ducks wandering here and there.

For the race itself there were about 25 people. Skipped first prime, missed 2nd, but caught up to the sprinters for the 3rd, and jumped the leader on his right side as he was looking left... shazam $12.  Crap, then only had 6 minutes to get ready for the "win an out".  Looked like it would be a field sprint, but hard to say.  "Win an out" means that if you sprint for first and don't get it you keep riding, then sprint for third, then sprint for fourth... The winner of that round gets to stop racing, everyone else has to do it all over again. 

I wasn't ready for the 1st place sprint, so let 3 guys charge off. Then we circled around again and I'm 2nd wheel of the pack catching the sprinters.  The sprint goes off for 2nd with 4 guys jockying for best wheel and trading out lead, and I gradually bridge solo but let the sprint go out knowing I'd make up ground on the downhill and that they were tiring out from all the effort to trade out wheels.  Sure enough I found the 3 after the downhill on a riser. I was catching up and they were still distracted so I snuck up on them, drafted for a moment behind them, then attack far left.  Immediately 1 dropped and 2 pursued, but I knew there was no way they'd hold my pace.  So I hammered up the hill and then rode easy across the finish line for a tactical, and not all that hard fought 3rd.

I like that kind of racing, tactical.  Also, really like the mixed fields in these races.  I get to ride with cat 5, to cat 2-3, and women all on the same course.  Makes things interesting for sure, and you can pick out the lower cat riders by their low WSBA #s.  Make choosing a wheel very easy.

After the race scooped up the prime, cheered on the rest of the field and drove home shivering uncontrollably from the cold.

Here's a video from a buddy of mine Slo Mo Shun, all props go to him and his crazy camera skills. This was 1 week prior, during his race: