Race report

Sunday was the last stage of the Tucson Bicycle classic. With the bad luck I had the day before I really wanted to win this stage. The coarse was suited for my riding style as there we some good climbs. The race leader, a friend of mine told, me that if a break went up the road with no GC contenders in it, they would let it go. That's all I needed to hear.
We rolled out for a 50 mile race with the wind starting to howl. Within 15 min I found myself in a great move off the front with 6 other strong riders. We pushed hard and opened up a good gap of about 2 minutes or so. I was feeling really good and the finishing stretch was uphill and perfect for me to try to win. At one point our gap grew to around 3 minutes. I figured this was good enough to stick throughout the day.
With three laps remaining our gap was coming down fast. I wasn't really expecting the main field to be chasing as all the top GC contenders were in that main group watching eachother. The next time gap I heard was 1 min 20 seconds. I knew they were chasin hard and I was getting nervous. It turns out the race leader cracked and everyone was going balistic attacking and trying to get away to make up time. This was bad for our group.
With 3 laps left a group of 14 riders bridged up to us. All of these riders having fresh legs. As soon as they caught our group the attcks started. At this point my legs were feeling fried. I tried my hardest to stay with the new group , but couldn't. I blew and I blew hard. I finished the race 7 minutes back from winner.
I felt good about going for it, even though things didn't work out in my favor. There's a sense of satisfaction when you put it all on the line. Most guys in a race never know this. I've raced both ways, but always feel better going out with a bang. Maybe next time it'll work out. Next weekend is another race and another opportunity. Wish us luck. Until then, ride hard!