Robert Winder

Henleyville is a good circuit, which had September turn-outs, we rolled the P123 race out about 10 minutes late. Luckily Joel was running hot and we managed to pull the 10 minutes back in the first pretty fast lap of 18 miles. Every time I looked at my computer we were around 26-27mph and my legs were already hurting after chasing down so much. Thanks to Jason for reminding me of the “wheelsucker post” and making me work more, I wish we’d had a more effective way to get the rest of the field engaged. The early moves we’re covered, Sierra Nevada guys tried to get a man or two off the front and take the pressure off, but when they came back to the group, sans other racers that tactic turned into a big stick and they had to chase hard for half a lap or so.

It was pretty much the same on lap 2 and by the start of lap 3 Mike Andres rolled off the front, nice and easy. As he went out of sight the hunt was on, Joel and 1-2 others went off the front in pursuit. On the feedzone hill I decided that there’d been enough and I was making my own chase, along with Sierra Nevada and LaborPower, we got a good gap, but weren’t working too well together. Not sure if Sierra Nevada had someone up front or not at that time. By the time Klein and Riggs came by I was pretty much toast, that was the race, it went by in a split second and I didn’t know they were coming. I didn’t jump and I paid the ultimate price. Six went up the road.

Slipping back into the bunch, I knew the race was over. I was tempted to pull out at the start of the last lap, but pride always gets in the way of sensible decisions. The last lap consisted of 10 or so going off the front, I guess they were really desperate for the latest VP T-Shirt, and the rest of us were chatting about who was going to sprint. Laughing group? It would’ve been but not enough were having fun.