All the Cat 4/5's started together, about 35 of us total. My division was numbers 60-71, so I marked made note of my competition as we lined up so I wouldn't confuse them with other racers. Of course, the ultimate goal is to win the race outright, but my main concern was placing in my division.

First 3 laps were pretty quick, averaging over 22 mph, but with fresh legs, and sitting in a nice draft, it was pretty comfortable. The work was mostly being done by a couple of Simple Green and Tradewinds guys, and I had no asipirations of coming to the front.

We pretty much stayed as a group for the first 6 laps with a few people getting dropped. No serious attacks, and I still felt good. I pulled alongside Burt and asked him how he was feeling. He said "okay", and not a second later..."PFFFT". Sidewall blowout on his rear. Sucks because he's a slightly stronger rider than me, and he would have been there at the end for sure.

Laps 7-9 started to take a little more effort to get through the climbs, but I was never in danger of getting dropped. Slowly, others were getting dropped, so I started to move up towards to top 10 positions to make sure I didn't have to close a big gap.

Lap 10 the effort started to pick up as the leaders of the group wouldn't attack...but surge. It was a good thing I was near the front as I could see gaps forming behind me and they would have to chase to bridge back up.

I still haven't taken a pull yet, and there was no way that I could have as it took all my energy to keep pace on the climbs. After lap 10, Eric Kollai launched an attack and nobody responded. Since he wasn't in my AG, I let him go as well. He was gone...he's a top triathlete AGer...so I wasn't surprised he was able to stay away and won the overall 4/5 race..

So there is still 2nd OA to fight for, as well as my AG. Our pack was down to about 10 now, and there were three clear guys in my AG that I was marking. One of them was doing a lot of work up front, so I was pretty sure he wouldn't have the legs to sprint as he would fall back slightly on the climbs then brigde back up. The other two looked strong. One of them wasn't doing much work like me (his name is Matt), but he was a much smaller guy, and I knew I had a chance to out power him if I could stay with him on the first 2 climbs of the last lap. The last guy was also doing a lot of work up front (don't know his name, he's #62), but he didn't seem nearly as tired as I was...or he was hiding it well.

So we get into the last lap and I'm 2nd wheel behind #62, with Matt behind me. We get to the first small climb and I'm pushing really hard. 2nd climb right after that and my legs are screaming. My breathing is out of control, and I can see #62 look back at me seeing how bad I'm hurting...but I made it and am on his wheel on the rolling descent...with Matt right on me.

#62 isn't pushing too hard, I guess he was hoping one of us would come around so he could jump on our wheel, but I was happy to just recover in his draft...hoping Matt or anyone else wouldn't come around either.

We get to the finishing approach. A .25 mile climb at 5%. At this point I don't know what's going to happen, but all I know is that I can't wait for someone else to jump and expect to get on their wheel. So at the base of the hill I just go for it. I quickly pass #62 and Matt jumps on my wheel. I hear the cheers of my friends as I'm coming down and I'm half in disbelif that I'm even in this position. I felt that rush of adrenaline come through me and just kept hammering. Matt came up from behind and almost pulled dead even with me as we crested the hill, but the finish line was still another 75 meters away on a flat.

Luckily just before the crest of the hill I had the courage to shift one last time into a harder gear, and I think that was the difference. As we got to the flat, I was able to surge just ahead and edged Matt at the line by about half a wheel.

I was pegged...I don't think I have ever sprinted like that before. Averaging 23.5 mph for that .25 stretch, and got up to 194 bpm. I couldn't believe it. Granted I didn't do any work up front, so I give all the credit in the world to the 3-4 guys that spent the majority of the time setting the pace, but I'll take it.

Lose more weight. I'm about 10 pounds heavier than I had hoped to be at this time of the year.

Crawled through 1 more lap to cool down. Amazing how slow that lap was compared to the race.