I was targeting this race, and I knew I was on form and could do well. Newt and I drove up together, and despite planning on leaving enough time for a long warm-up we managed to hit every bit of traffic and rolled into registration 15 minutes before our race was to start. Luckily a bunch of the XXX contingent had been on an epic spring training ride that rode to this course and did some laps--familiarizing us with the hill. After getting our numbers pinned we rolled to the line to find a pretty small, but competitive field. XXX andBurnham clearly had the numbers and I knew that any break would have to have both teams represented.

After a couple laps of rolling around the course a move got established at the top of climb and I managed to make it into it. After a lap I surveyed things and knew that we had the decisive move with Luke and I representing XXX; JasonKnauff and Nick Gierman from Burnham; and Al Urbanski from Cuttin Crew along with a Project Five rider I'd never seen. Luke immediately embarked on attacking the break almost every other lap--taking the pressure off of me and forcing the others to chase him. The downhill always brought us back together, but I could see the others spending precious energy going downhill when I was recovering. I began to feel pretty strong as I was riding within myself on the climbs and letting others bring me back to the front when people attacked. Peter and Newt were blocking and covering moves in the field, which gave us a comfortable gap we never had to worry about.

With one to go Luke attacked again at the false flat on the top of the hill. Everyone was pretty gassed and it took some time for them to bring him back, but we caught him halfway down the descent. I made my move just before the penultimate corner--taking the outside line around Luke that put him between me and the chasers. I got a gap and motored down the final flatish portion of the descent. I took the last corner cleanly and stood up to sprint--not wanting to chance being pipped at the line. I ended up having more space than I thought, and coasted through the finish.

The XXX Cat 3 squad is riding together expertly. Without much communication we managed to ride the race exactly right with each rider assuming the role that the race dealt to him. It's no wonder we've won four races in a row with three separate guys.