Ohio State Road Race - cat 3

Woke up at 4:00 after five hours of sleep so I could be at Caesar's Creek by 8:30. I slept a bit in the car (dad drove), but nothing really restful. got to the park and it was 45 degrees. cold! It warmed up a good bit by the start though, a little under 60. I knew it would warm up so I just wore a thin long sleeve base layer under the jersey. First of four laps was pretty calm, a few weak attacks went but they were all brought back within a mile. The hill wasn't bad. Everybody said the first time up was the hardest. I definitely semmed the easiest to me, maybe just because I worked so hard the rest of the race. Three miles into the second lap, another attack went, but everyone went with it so it didn't get far. Then an Anthem guy attacked and everybody sat up. He was pullling away fast, but I knew I could catch him, so I went. I figured that if I could draw out a Team Dayton rider, nobody would chase. Those two teams together made up at least half the field of forty-five or so. Nobody from Dayton went with me, instead the lone Lake Effect rider came up. We worked together pretty well except the Anthem guy wouldn't do any work. He said he was hurting real bad, and I could see it in his form, but if that was the case, I don't know why he attacked in the first place. About ten miles in we were caught by a bridge from Nail City. We had a pretty good gap but it was hard with just the two of us working. Nail City was trying for the KOM, so he agreed to concede the finish if we gave him the KOM points. I was shooting for the overall anyways and didn't need any attacks within our group of four. We go another five miles up the hill and past the start line, and I can see the pack brought us to about ten seconds. I stop taking hard pulls, and we get pulled in after another mile or so. I was ready for the counter but when it went we didn't stay away long at all. The rest of lap three I rested, trying to get some energy back for the finish. I had drifted to the back and didn't notice a break go with Dayton, Anthem, and Stark (I think) until they had fifteen or twenty seconds. I made a few attacks but stopped when nobody would go with me. There were a few splits in the field, but I always stayed in the front so those weren't a problem. By the time we reached the hill on the last lap, we had brought back the break. Everyone busted it up the hill and by the top the last twenty or so in the field went down to thirteen. With a mile to go, the same kid that attacked the feed zone at the Jr. State RR tried to go off the front. He got brought back and John Lowry countered. He ended up soloing to the win as I surfed wheels trying to get a good position for the sprint. I went into it fifth, passed two guys, wound up my junior gears, and got passed back to finish fifth. pretty good I think considering I had five h ours' sleep, no teammates and did a heck of a lot of work. one week off then cross season!