Mount Hamilton Road Race

We had to get up early to get out to the race so that was not great but I got to sleep in the car. I got all prepared and headed out to the line for the start, it was neutral for the first mile or so and then about a 20 mile climb. I was able to move into good position during the neutral roll out and then we hit the climb and my legs felt decent. I started to move back a bit as people began to swarm to get to the front. It was cramped in the field and I wanted to be up a little closer to the front but I just waited. About halfway up the pace started to really kick up and that strung everyone out and I was able to move up into the front. I took the first little descent on the front and then we hit the second part of the climb and I was thinking to myself that this climb was mine. I took a hard pull and then Evan Pickett from Stanford and another guy rotated at the front for the remainder of the climb. Near the top I began to suffer a bit, but I hung on and only 10 guys remained. I moved up for the descent as I am a pretty good descender due to my access to Mt. Tam. We were flying down the descent and then a guy that was two riders ahead of me slid out in a corner and the guy in front of me went down trying to avoid the other guy. I made my way around the carnage and kept on rolling. There were a few short climbs and then quite a bit of flat. Evan Pickett attempted a few attacks and then the group started a rotation along the flats. I continued to eat my Clif-Shots and I could feel my legs getting a bit tired. As we hit some of the climbs at about mile 40 I was hurting and just barely hanging on but I stayed in good position and I was thinking about putting in some attacks on the last few rollers but there were not any very good places. The group stayed together through the final descent and I sat in decent position in the 8 man group. With about 1 mile to go a guy attacked and I wasn’t going to chase, but I guess that no one else felt like chasing either. So he stayed off the front and I gave it all in the sprint and I almost threw myself off in the bike throw. I finished in 4th so I was happy with that, it showed that I was able to hang with the top guys, I just need to work on getting the win.