Ronde Von Manda

The morning following the Manor race, my mom took me out for the Ronde Von Manda near Elgin. After a quick break at the port-o-john, I rushed to the starting line to shiver in the cold breeze for a few minutes before our race started. Again I started out mid-pack, but this proved to be a worse decision than it was the day before- centerline was in effect, and I was trapped in a sorry position for once the pace picked up. As we made our first turn into the headwind, I worked hard to get up to the riders who were hammering, trying to weed out the tired or otherwise slower riders. Without a warmup I fell into that category, and as a solid break formed up ahead and the pack worked relentlessly to catch it, I was forced to drop back, and before I knew it I was off the back. A chase group formed, and I worked hard with a few other riders to get back on just as the pace picked up again and I had to sit up. I took a long break, during which I counted 4 riders pass me huffing and puffing just as hard as I was. I looked back just in time to see a 3 man train coming up fast, and started pedaling again to join their club. We each did our share and were able to catch back on just as the headwind started up again. I was discouraged to find out that 7 men had managed to get away, and after a good rest in the middle of the pack I got back up front to join the determined riders in an attempt to close the gap. Suddenly I noticed I was out of breath again, but was unwilling to let the other riders chastise me for not doing my share. After a short but hard pull, I dropped back a few positions to get behind a bigger guy. I sat up, and was surprised to discover that the pack was gone and I was in an 11 man chase group closing in on the 7 up the road. We got organized and started a paceline which involved a lot of complaining and moaning about who was doing more work than who. Despite my nearly insignificant wind shadow, I found myself up at the front taking harder pulls than others who just wanted to sit in. Their miles were numbered though, and by the last 7 miles of the 3rd lap we had dwindled to 7 or 8 with the strongest of us still closing the gap- 45 seconds with 7 miles to go. Unfortunately we began to realize that it wasn't going to happen, and mentality within our group became a lot more self-centered. with 5 k to go, 2 jumped off the front with 5 of us chasing. They got a significant gap, but we quickly got organized and formed a highly efficient paceline. I was sitting second wheel behind a strong yet somewhat inexperienced rider up front when we approached the sharpest turn on the course. He stopped pedaling in preparation to slow for it, but I shouted "take it quick! Outside inside outside!". We moved way over left and cut a sharp line through the turn without loosing so much as a second, and were close enough to the two ahead to close the gap. 3 k to go, and our reunited group dropped the pace way down. I took one short and easy pull before drifting to the back to chill for the last k. At 200 m to go the sprint started, but I didn't move very far up. 4 finished in front of me with a 5th at my side who beat me by an inch. 6th in our break with the 7th man brake up ahead, give or take a rider or two.