Darin Salk, Wente RR, 45+ 4/5

Hot, hilly and fun. Very happy with the 8:35 am start - it must have been brutal at Noon. Another personal victory: not last, no crash. Jim K and Nelson F we're the stallions again, with Jim finishing 9th and Nelson somewhere close by. I got popped off the lead group before the 1st of 3.5 laps was over. Still need to drop lbs!!! I TT'd for a while until thankfully Hal came along with about 8 riders. With some "subtle" screaming from Hal and yours truly we got a pace line together and rotated whenever possible. When it works, a smoothly rotating pace line has to be one of the most enjoyable things I've ever done in cycling!

Most of our group hung together until the final uphill climb to the finish. The race rides, Wheelworks ride (with a little Master's swimming too) and mentoring from our leaders and other experienced racers is starting to pay off. I was hurting pretty bad but was able to put the DBC hammer down and drop all the guys in the group before crossing the line with what I can only describe as a classic Fast Freddie description of HTFU - let's just say I wasn't looking or feeling my best! But I was happy and satisfied.

After recovering, Jan (3rd place in Master's 1-2-3!), Hal and I rolled back, and I just missed the start of the Masters 35+ Cat-5 race - sorry I missed you guys - please get older soon!