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Mason Lake Road Race Series #3
19 March 2005
Report by: Barry Campbell
It was a tough day, as evidenced by the numbers starting the races, in every category, today.
I didn't see the start of the Cat 4 race, but the pack I saw go by wasn't very big. The Masters C race
was about 35 or so riders, down from at least 50 the week before.
When J, Wilbur and I got to the parking lot, it wasn't really raining. "See?" J said, "it really isn't
raining here." Shortly after that the skies opened. I guess it never really poured, but at about 43F, it
really doesn't matter. Once you're wet, you're wet. Warming up was never really an achieveable goal, but
we spun for a bit, just to get the legs moving. All too soon, it was time to go.
We headed out fairly easy, but soon Aurora sent a rider off the front. This repeated several times. Riding
in the pack was like riding with a hose directed at your face. I discovered fairly quickly that my brakes
were only minimally effective, so I headed toward the front to avoid having to use them so much.
I hung out with J and David and Wilbur most of the time, since the pace wasn't too bad for a while. Midway
through the second lap I decided to actually do some work, since J was out in the wind. I passed him,
intending to pull for him for a while. There were two riders off the front, and the front of the pack
seemed fine with that, since as I passed J, they slowed down. I considered it for a bit, then decided slowing
further just to pull J seemed pointless, so I went after the breakaway instead. I caught them pretty quickly,
then sat in while the group caught up. Mission accomplished, time to recover.
We spent most of the next lap hanging out near the front, then I got a piece of road grit in my eye and faded
back to see if I could get it out. I figured I was done, until it finally came out. I 50 yards off the back,
with the follow car right behind me, so I punched it to the corner and chased the pack down on the downhill.
After that, I was pretty spent. It was hard to breathe through all the water, and I knew I didn't have anything
left to sprint with. So I settled for coming in with the pack, while David poached a wheel and sprinted for 3rd.
J and Wilbur moved up in the pack nicely during the sprint, and came out with 13th and 17th. Nicely done, guys.
We headed back to the car, and it took a good 20 minutes after we'd changed and headed down the road before I
stopped shivering...
Results:
Masters C:
David Martos, 3rd
J. Juelis, 13th
Wilbur Kelly, 17th
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