Keith's Burlingame 35+ 1/2/3 and P/1/2 report

M35+ and p/1/2 (John, Christian, and Andrew in M35+)
about 15th in M35+ with one prime sprint
about 20-25 in p/1/2

not much to say, but it was fun to be in a race with teammates. We didn't have a big team race plan as it was 2nd race for the others and they all did well in their previous races, which is cool. Thanks for getting in the 2nd race guys. no successful breaks got away in m35+, but I did take a prime by sprinting out of the pack and coming around Andres and Patrick - both old teammates that have been much more successful than me racing for several years. It was nice to do something in the race. After the prime sprint, I was out solo by a little bit and 3 were catching up to me, so I made the mistake of waiting. Ends up they were just doing the masters thing and chasing me down to stop trying. too bad. I should have just kept going. Next time.

Early in the race, Christian and Andrew were up front. Andrew was active. When I saw him on the front I moved up to help mark wheels, but he was just missing the 3 man move a few times, so I didn't need to jump in and help a move get away at that point. It was good to see him up there and almost making a nice move. He was working hard. Christian battled well at the front for the first half and I saw him a lot. He;s easy to spot in the pack with his fluorescent armwarmers. I thought they might go away when it got hot, but I guess he likes them a lot.

A good sized move went with about 8 guys about 1/2 way through the 40 minute race and I went through the front to bridge. We had nobody up there, so I had to do it. Unfortunately, my bridge wasn't overly explosive and I simply closed the gap for the field. That's okay to do, better than letting the 8 person move go with the teams all represented.
Prime prize was a bunch of gus and bars, so I'm happy to give you guys some at the beginning of next race that we are at if I remember to bring them along.

p/1/2 felt easier than m35+ but that was because there was no surging, just constant speed and nobody going anywhere far in a breakaway. I hung in the back because my knee starting hurting for the first time ever. Ends up that my new bike with integrated seatpost wasn't put together by me as sound as it should be. operator error - I didn't tighten the seatpost bolt down enough and the seat clamp fell 6mm (the entire length of the total gap between top of the cut post and the top of the clamp. I didn't know until after the race. Position is very important and just 6mm drop caused some strange pains in my left knee. Problem diagnosed and fixed tonight. I will install a shim and never have that problem again.
There were three notable crashes in this race, 2 in last five laps and one in the top 10 that landed 10 feet from the finish. The question came up, if you crash near the finish and your bike crosses the line in top 10, but you do not, do you get a prize? I avoided all crashes just barely - one with shoulders leaning on another rider and one with a nice skid. Maybe rolled in 20th-25th with no real action in this one. Knee didn't have too many problems later in the race and pain has already subsided.