From Bob...The Winner!

I need to really thank all the 35+ 5 guys for all their hard work yesterday. I showed up at Bariani late which is kind of crazy for a race that is 20 minutes away and didn't start until 2:00. But that's the way it was and this meant that I didn't get to warm up but I figured that I would be able to do this on the first lap. I met Doug, Joaquin, Tom and the others at the start line and was happy to see that there was sunshine instead of rain and it seemed like the wind was dieing down. We rolled out at a fairly slow pace and I parked myself at the back of the pack to try to get a feel for the group. There were a few really sketchy riders who seemed really nervous, weaving, braking, and generally making me want to keep my distance. We made our way around the course and I started to move up as we were coming to the KOM climb. The field really stretched out at that point and I was able to move close to the front. No one really seemed to be working very hard so after we came over the top I thought I would get on the front and see if we could lose some of the weaker riders by keeping the pace up through the cross wind area. By the time we came through the start/finish line and thanks to Joaquin there was no one seemed all that willing to challenge me and my legs felt good. The moto guy looked a little bored so I decided picked up the pace a little more and soon found that I had a pretty decent gap. My goal then was to make sure that I didn't over extend myself see what happens. So, I find myself with a sizable gap with 20 miles left to go in the race and I am thinking to myself can I do a 20 mile TT and keep everyone back? I get through the windy section on the frontage road and am smoothly spinning over the rollers when I see that there is someone bridging just as I make the hard 90 degree turn to head towards the KOM. I slow slightly to let him get on since a little help would certainly improve my chances of having this break stick. He gets on my wheel and I get back up to speed. After a bit of time and a few obvious looks I tell him that if he wants this break to work he is going to have to get up here and do some work. He says something about how hard it was to bridge but I have given him time to recover so if he doesn't get up front my plan was to try to drop him on the KOM but he came around and started to cooperate. I told him that we were going to have to keep ourselves on the edge if we were going to stay out front and I let him take the KOM points. It was right after that that the wind and hail hit us. In the crosswind I thought it was going to take my wheels and blow right off the pavement. After having the right side of my body shot with a thousand little BB's we turned towards the start finish and as quickly as it started the onslaught ended. We continued to work well together and as we were heading to the turn onto the frontage road there were two other riders working to bridge. They caught up and again the three of them are hanging out on my back wheel. I swung over to gutter them and they rolled up along side. I organized us into an rotating echelon and one guy popped off immediately. We pushed hard, all working well together. After the final KOM the first guy who had joined me and who I had told I wasn't going to contest the KOM points said that he would lead me out for the final sprint as thanks. He didn't really get a chance though since once we made the final turn the other guy and I took off. We flew down that final stretch and I was able to get a decent advantage and held it through the line. This would not have been possible without all the help from my teammates in the pack. We had a plan and we worked it perfectly. So as my last race as Cat 5 I am glad that I could complete it with a win. The only down side is that they ran out of Olive Oil so they gave the KOM winner $40 instead. If I had known that maybe I wouldn't have given it up. It all good in the end. I owe all you guys a beer.