The official at the starting line said 7 laps. At the end of seven laps, I moved up through the field in the final mile, contested a three-man sprint to take second, to hear the sounds of....the bell? WTF?
(The flyer said 5.5 miles per lap, 43 miles = 8 laps, but the guy with the patch clearly said 7 laps...and that's what the counter said as well...)
I'm not a total idiot, there were a bunch of us that got screwed and left flat in the final lap. I would have been more likely to trust the bell (or lack of it) if the field wasn't so screwed at the end of lap six. Long story short, the Masters 4/5s started ahead, we caught them, they caught us, we commingled and some tried to do the right thing, some tried to gain advantage, but really, there's only so long you can expect two packs to ride side by side without interacting and taking a draft or two. So coming through the s/f in a 100+ mixed pack and NOT hearing a bell was not surprising.
Overall, it was a decent day, as my teammate Brean took second in the "real" finish. (Oh yeah, I'm on a team now, go Cuttin' Crew! Messenger trash, woo!) From what it sounds like, the field was whupped and unable to chase down the eventual winner, and even too spent to keep him from winning the field sprint. At least SOMEBODY on the team got a podium. It would have been nice to see what might have been with both of us in the final sprint...
2 comments:
The 3 race got mixed in with the 1/2 in a very similar fashion. I accidentally let a break go thinking it was 1/2 guys.
All in all, a frustrating day was had by all.
I'm likin' that kit on you...
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