35+ 4/5 report by Eric Peterson
This is an old favorite of mine. The course is run of the mill, but they have a drummer banging away on kettle drums every lap. Doug and Rob have been to the race to watch in previous years. Last year I was sitting in 5th going into the last lap when the guy in front of me crashed into a bush and almost took me down. I managed to jump over him but lost my chain and didn't get it pedaled on until I was pretty much at the end of the pack.

I signed up for the Cat 4 race and the Masters 4/5 hoping to use the Cat 4 race as a warm up and then kill in the Master's race. Well, I felt REALLY good in the Cat 4 race and kept thinking about having a go at it. So I went on a couple of mock breaks just to see how good I felt and test the group's reaction. With a few laps to go, I put myself into about 20th which was a good position because of a killer wind on one stretch of the course. Then on the bell lap there was a crash. Often in crashes things happen so fast I can't recall anything from the incident. This time everything moved like molasses for me. I saw the accident start and knew I could avoid it by staying right and slowing slightly. As I got by the pile up I realized that I now had a really good chance of finishing well so started to stomp on the pedals. Then out of the corner of my eye on the right some yahoo comes by me not looking straight, but back and to the left to get a real good rubbernecking view of bikes flying in the air. So we both went down, me skidding along on my right cheek for a good while. Besides that well placed road rash I had very little damage to body or bike and considered riding the next race. But I didn't have a spare set of shorts and my current pair were so shredded that I thought the riders in the next race would rightfully avoid me at all costs.

So I headed home with less than one race finished, no points and road rash to scrub. Still 3 races to go to reach the goal, but one of them was very hilly and I discounted any chance at performing well there. So I needed a 1st place and at least a 4th or two 2nd places from this point on.

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