I had signed up for the Tour of Elk Grove shortly after registration opened. Then I forgot about it, seriously. Other things popped up and required my attention( have your heard about the realy cross race?) so it wasn't until last week when I tried to registar again and relized that I had already had done so. Then I heard about the payouts and saw the course and got excited about the race.

I have found that last year I put a lot of pressure on myself in races. This year I decided that I wasn't going to do that. I wasore interested in stay consistant and growing a little, rather then fading over time. And so far this year that is what I have been able to do. The first few races a looked to stay in the top half and rarely even contested sprints. Then I started to formalize a training plan and I grew more and more confident in my form.

So I went in to this race confident in myself. I knew barring a crash I could determine where I finished. So I got there ready for 45 mins of action, except it was 35. Were I had thought a break would go in a 45 min race, I now knew it would be 35 mins of speed, especially without the rain to cause people to lose heart.

The team had a lot of members in this race and we knew we could keep it pretty animated. I had a few wheels that I was looking out for but just planned to keep towards to the front and not waste time on primes. The first half started fast with us laying down some hard attacks and me glad to sit in. About half way through I started to move up knowing that the 4's have been crashy lately. Then came the first of prime laps and some guys move to front and I sit 6 or so back. We come around the last turn and they sprint and I cruise at a pretty fast pace. When I see them all sit up I drill it think less people in the end the better. We do this again, fast pace, sprint for prime, I sit in and then drill it afterwords. No reason to let anyone rest.

I see the final laps counting down and I am still up front and a long comes a teammate we trade 30 sec pulls while everyone else is uniterested in doing any work. On the back side of the 2nd lap to go I force my way off the front and take 3rd or 4th wheel. We gett the bell and I realize I am in good placing. Don't crash in the 180 no reason to waste all the work. A tire explodes behind us on the backside, keep face foward and go. Get ready to sprint. We round the final turn and the front slows just a little. I knew that this was about 400m out and with a fast group I didn't want to be swarmed in the finish. I also know I have been doing long solo sprints, so I could hold 400m. So I go. I see one wheel behind me, I push harder. I started to see one rider coming on the right, I now sprint all out. At the line it's close and I throw. I come away happy with 5th. My best result so far this year and proof that everything is working. Possible one of the fastest races and I felt like I could go for a while longer.