Tyson's Corner

The team went up to Walkersville yesterday with big plans and I wasn't able to be there. They had a great finish with Jared placing 4th or so after his break was caught just 500 meters from the finish. It takes a strong rider to place that high after being in a break, working hard to stay out, getting caught, recovering and then executing on a field sprint. Great work followed by a 9th place in the 1/2/3 today at Tyson's. 2 top 10 finishes for Jared this weekend. Way to go...

I think we were all expecting good weather today and rain yesterday. Unfortunately for me, my one day of racing today was plagued by a slow drizzle of rain all day. Terry and I felt comfortable in the field for the duration of the race. Terry exhausted himself by going off the front and then pulling the peloton on the last lap to the corner before the straight away. I played it 'smarter', saved my energy and executed the sprint for a 5th place finish. Terry followed up after the category 4 race and had a double race day by riding in the category 3/4 race. He actually finished higher in the 3/4 than he did in the 4! He raced smarter in the 2nd race. John Brewer was also in the 3/4 and made several attempts to break away from the field and spent a considerable amount of time out front doint the work. Our junior Sean placed well and continues to gain race experience. Barb and Leigh Ann both finished the women's race and are becoming staples in the women's events for Haymarket in their first season of racing. Success doesn't come easily and these guys are sticking it out.

Here is a picture of the field sprint for the category 4 race.

John and Larry B from Warrenton raced in the masters event and were gracious enough to loan me their trainer to warm up. Unfortunately, they misunderstood the start time for the event and jumped into the race a lap late. This prevented them from making any attempt to place in the event or affect the race in any way.

The 4 race was largely uneventful, so not much to report on. There were a couple of crashes given the slick surface. There were lots of unsuccessful break away attempts, none of which lasted more that 1 lap of the 1.1 mile circuit. Perhaps the most interesting thing to comment on for me is the contrast between my performance last year in this event and this year.