Poolesville Road Race

Haymarket Results (that I know of)
**age graded 40/50+ Chris Hayes 1st place
**category 4/5 (me) 4th place
**category 3/4 Darren Bernard DNF - off the front a bit, crashed out on the gravel after the riders directly in front of him stopped abruptly
**category 3/4 Terry Anderson - ?25th? or something (cramps, no water)
**women's Barb / Leigh Anne ???

Description of the course
The course is a nominal 10 mile loop consisting of 1 mile stretch of gravel, which is primarly a low grade descent, combined with some nice rolling terrain and a long false flat. The gravel is immediately followed by some rollers and then a long false flat. These components of the course combined with the distance of the races make it a challenging course that wears on the legs quickly.

The category 4/5 race
The first noteworthy event was the first lap around on the 1 mile gravel stretch. This stretch of the course is littered with many potholes that require good navigation, or otherwise, good holding on to your handlebars... On the first section of potholes, it was clear that many riders didn't navigate them well I rode past and over approximately 40 water bottles that vibrated out of the cages as riders bounced around. I quickly lost the water bottle that I had in my cage as well. 1st lap, not more than 5 miles into the race, half of my water supply vanished into the dust. I was left with the one bottle that I had stashed in the back of my jersey and was careful to keep it in my jersey on the next three laps. On every lap after the gravel or on the rollers / false flat, 5-10 riders dropped out due to crashing, flat tires, or exhaustion. By the end of the race, the field had been widdled down significantly from the initial 75 riders to about 20 or so.

An NCVC rider was off the front for the first 2 laps of the race. He never made it out of sight, so I was sure that this rider wasn't a threat. It ended up that he somehow crashed into a ditch on a paved section of straight road. Not sure how it happened, but hope he's ok.

On the final lap of the race, something happened that rarely happens in category 4/5 races. There was a 5-6 man break away that took off prior to the gravel section. Immediately, I noticed 3 things. 1) they looked organized and immediately started an efficient pace line 2) every team of significance in the race was represented. (All American, NCVC, Artemis to name the ones that I noticed) 3) The jerseys that were in the break were also on the front. I decided that if the break started to gain any significant ground on the field and nobody else was on the front reeling it in that I had no option but to do it myself. I let it go for a bit and noticed that they were gaining ground quickly on the field and nobody was working on the front. I was 3/4 of the way back in the field and quickly surfed the yellow line to get to the front trying my best to not violate the yellow line rule. I got on the front and drilled it as hard as I could to bridge the gap. Half way across the gap I flicked my arm to message the rider behind me to take his turn. He didn't budge. I looked back and the rider said, "my rider is in the break"...so he wasn't going to do a thing, so I put my head down and ended up pulling the entire field up to the break...which was fine by me...but when I got to the break, someone else in the field counter attacked. Now, I was spent and did my best to hang on to the field as other teams were now incented to chase that break. It worked out well for me as I was then able to recover on the back and ended up 4th in the field sprint.

40+/50+ race
Here is what I heard 2nd hand... similar carnage on the gravel...

on the last lap Chris Hayes moved to the front on the gravel section and drilled it thru the gravel and over the first roller. Whoever lasted after that punishment was left to compete for the field sprint.

I was at the finish and from the time that I could see the group, Hayes was on the front and finished on the front 2 bike lengths ahead of the 2nd place rider...enough time to sit up and raise a triumphant fist in the air. A one fist salute as opposed to the 2 fist salute at Silver Spring last year.