The race started out tame for about the first of 62 laps (half mile laps)… then it got fast. A few futile break attempts went and then were caught. No way was anyone getting away from this pack, unless they were going to go super sonic. Imagine my surprise when a small group motored away from the field. Once they got 20 seconds, it was a foregone conclusion that they were going to lap the field. I made one attempt to spark the field into chasing when they were about 10 or 15 seconds up, but there were a couple of teams there that had multiple guys in the break and multiple guys left in the field, and they were able to control things.
Another group of 3 or 4 slipped away and lapped the field as well. I made a few appearences at the front, but spent the rest of the time hanging on for dear life. You had to pay attention the entire time, because you were either setting for a turn, turning, or sprinting out of a turn and hanging onto the person in front of you.
Eventually the laps to go worked there way down into the single digits. I never made my way back to the front to really contest the sprint. With 4 or 5 to go, things opened up, and the pack started to split. I ended up closing the gap to stay with the main group. The last couple of laps were a a blur, but I finished strong. Nothing great, but nothing bad. Just out of the top 20 at 21st. I’ll take the result given my 5-6hrs/week of training that I have been doing ;-)
All in all, it was a great trip. The kids enjoyed staying at a hotel. No one got hurt too bad (Noah squashed a couple of fingers in the window, but he rallied), and everyone seemed to have a good time at the race.