Masters District Road Race Championships Fort Ord, Aug 14

Contributors: Lloyd Leighton

We were racing on the old Fort Ord military base and the race consisted of 8 laps on a 4.3 mile course. My group (60-64) was combined with the 65-69 and 70+ riders. There were 5 guys from Hammer Racing and four of those were in the 65-69 field. They started attacking almost from the start and were attacking on almost every hill. We lost half of the field on the first lap. I tried to race smart and position myself to be near the front at the start of all of the uphill sections where those guys were really trying to make the rest of us hurt. Then, as the effort picked up, I was sliding to the back of the pack and then moving up again on the flats. I always managed to find the wheel of someone who was moving up. By the time we got to the next hill, I had been carried up to about 2nd to 4th place. This was really working well approaching the uphill grade about a mile or so after the start line. It was like I had a bunch of domestiques working for me. By the end of the second lap we were down to 11 riders and my strategy was working great.

Lloyd Leighton
Lloyd Leighton powering up the rollers at Fort Ord.

I was in second place on the uphill grade about a mile after the start of the 6th lap. A couple of guys attacked.  At first, I thought it would be a repeat of the first five laps and that I would just slide back as other riders moved up.   Unfortunately, they were quickly joined by two other guys. The four of them were pulling away and that's when the fun and games ended for me.  The guy whose wheel I was on responded and one other guy 

joined him.  I just wasn't strong enough to go with them.  So there you had it, four guys on an attack being chased by two guys and me in no man's land.  Some other guys had gotten on my wheel and I pulled to almost the top of the grade (the only time I did that all day).  I motioned them to come through and help. Low and behold, four of the five guys from Hammer had been caught out on the attack.  So I got on the Hammer Team train and two of their guys pulled us back to the main group.

 

Just as we got back to the main group, we made the turn onto Eucalyptus and were hitting the first of the three rollers there.  Unfortunately, the whole pack was still strung out in a single line and I was the last rider.  The other riders started pulling away from me on the first roller and I couldn't stay with them.  They had about a 15 - 20 second lead on me by the top of the third roller.  I tried to make up some ground on the descent but didn't do that.  Still had them in sight on the first grade after the start of the seventh lap and then I saw Joe Lemire drop a chain.  I was within about 20 yards of him when he got rolling again but I just couldn't get on his wheel.  That was pretty much the end of it for 

me.  Kept working hard and managed to lap two riders. I've raced against most of those guys that made up the group of 11 before and they are really a lot stronger than I am.  One of the guys, Lloyd Rath, who I have come to know over years was really nice and commented on how every time he looked around I was still there (at least up until the point I wasn't).

 

So, even though I didn't make it all the way to the finish with those guys, it was a really good day for me staying with them as long as I did.

 
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