Garret Lemire Ojai Circuit Race

Wow, tons of racing this weekend and Gabe has been the in the peloton reporter. Below is his blow by blow account of the 4/5's. There is also a selection of photos from John Goodman's coverage of the day. You know the drill, give John some green if you want to make them your own. I think all the chicken ranch photos are of the 3's race. You guys looked good. John has many more terrific shots of the pros. Check them out!



Now on to Gabe's coverage,

4/5's

Unfortunately, CR didn't win the 4/5's today, but we did have another good showing w/ 3 CR's represented in the top 10. Today's race started w/ a fast pace. A couple of teams went to the front and hit the back side climb pretty hard. I was surprised that I was feeling good today considering yesterday's efforts in the 4/5's and the 35+ at IV. A few riders tried to go off the front early, but in the 4/5's it rarely works because everyone is fresh and chases you down.

About mid-way into the race, the early hard effort started to take its toll on the peloton and it started to break-up and riders were falling off the pace. It was at this point that Pete, Brett, and I got together near the front and decided that CR was going to dictate the pace on the final climb. Brett and Pete were both looking strong near the front, and I was feeling like I had the legs to pull it off.

Going down the final descent into the final climb, all 3 of us went to front. We all took the turn into the climb at speed, then Brett and Pete got out of the saddle and gunned it. I was right on their wheel and just as my mind was saying, "ITS TIME TO GET OUT OF THE SADDLE AND HIT IT!" my right hamstring said, "SIT YOUR ASS BACK DOWN!" My right hammy cramped up and caused me to get back in the saddle. I was still in the top 5 at the top of the climb, but my hammy was twitching something awful. Apparently yesterday's efforts in the 4/5's and 35+ caught up to me. I did manage to get on Pete's wheel just before the final turn, but just as I started to wind it up, I cramped again. I managed 8th place w/ Brett finishing ahead of me in 7th and Pete in 9th. I later spoke to Craig Foley who was also in the race, but was unable to ride as strong as he would have liked due to the soreness and bruises from yesterday's crash. As for Ken, he got his win yesterday, so his work was done and had nothing more to prove. I believe he just kicked back in the pack and stayed out of trouble.

Considering the efforts we put forth this weekend in the unseasonably hot weather, I think we all did a great job today. I wish we could have repeated the success of yesterday's finish, but all in all, I think we are pretty satisfied with today's team results in the 4/5s.

I have to say we all had a good weekend of racing. 4 out of the top 5 yesterday w/ Ken's win was awesome, and 3 CR's in the top ten today isn't too shabby either. And BTW, today during the race, a rider came up along side of me and congratulated us on our team's success yesterday. I thought that it was a cool gesture of him to mention it during today's race.

My plan going into the weekend was to load the legs w/ racing miles, so I can start to taper down for Sea Otter which is this coming weekend. I felt good in all three races and am feeling confident going into the RR and CR at Sea Otter.

That's it for the 4/5's

See you all at Sea Otter,
Gabriel
NP4