Going into this race, I wasn't feeling too on top of it. All week I had been battling severe allergies. Other than my short commute to and from the train station each morning, I hadn't ridden since the previous weekend.

The first five minutes or so of the race were pretty normal. No real attacks and the field was, for the most part, staying together. Having raced this race last year, I knew the incline on the back stretch was the place to attack.

As we approached the hill about seven minutes into the race, I positioned myself in forth or fifth place with teammates immediately in front and behind. About a quarter of the way up the hill I launched my attack. In attacking my plan wasn't really to get away, but to liven the race up a bit.

As a sprinted away, I heard my teammates saying "let him go" (good team work guys). At the top of the hill, I looked back and saw only one other rider had followed. He was still a ways back, but, knowing I couldn't hold the field off by myself, I sat up and waited for him.

Working together, the two of us gained a sizeable lead on the field. As the race move closer to the end, I began to take shorter and shorter pulls until I quit pulling altogether with two laps to go. Knowing I had a few strong teammates behind me if we were caught, I wanted to save myself for a one on one sprint if we managed to stay away.

With about a half a lap to go, we were caught. I managed to pull off fifth place. My co-breaker managed to win (no one attacked when we were caught).

All in all I was pleased with my performance. I instigated an attack that almost held it and managed a respectable fifth place. Not a too bad for being less than 100 percent.