So like both of the Sequim races, it was Adam Cramer (Big) and I representing in the 4's. At Sequim Adam and I had focused on dialing in the teamwork. We had succeeded in working together an following our plan, but our plan had some flaws, so our results weren't exactly great. This week the team plan was for Adam to be the designated sprinter if we finished together and my job to ride the front and look for a break. I've gotten into the habit of writing a simple plan for my races about a week before. For Independence Valley my plan was 1. Fight my way to the front 2. Stick to the front (the first 10-15 guys) 3. Save my legs (like only work when I needed to) 4. Attack within 1 km of the finish. Incredibly, I actually followed these steps.
I warmed up a few minutes earlier than usual so that I could line up 20 minutes before the start...I'd rather have cold legs than be forced to fight my way through 50 guys during the neutral rollout and the first climb. This worked well as it allowed Adam to um, "talk to his teammate" and then not go to the back of the group. During the neutral, we allowed a few guys to com up around us and pull the group to the first climb. As the road pitched upward, I kicked into work mode and tried to keep with the first ten guys over the top, while Adam practiced some sag climbing to save his legs. As we did the typical sprint over the top, a gap formed between the first 15 guys and the rest of the field. Usually, when I'm descending, I'm the fastest guy, in this group though I actually had to pedal and focus on drafting the wheel in front of me. As we turned onto Lincoln Creek Rd., our group solidified and a number of racers started hammering around 30mph at the front. 
After taking a couple of pulls, things settled down enough that I could take a look around. I saw that our group had established a solid gap. I also saw that we had 3 men each from Audi and Starbucks, along with Herriot and Cycle U having at least two men in the group. At that point I waxed philosophical...more like simply thinking of what the pro's always do in these situations. Seeing that there was one of me and I had no teammates in the break, and I'm not great at working hard in a break all day, I decided to pretend to work enough to keep anyone from getting to mad at me, and mostly sit in. It quickly became apparent that simply sitting in would be a challenge, let alone the occasional pull to calm down the other guys. The second climb was a definite challenge, particularly holding on as we accelerated on the top. I hung tight though and managed to recover a little before we tackled Michigan Hill again.
Meanwhile, Adam was keeping things in line back in the peleton. He went up front and blocked, allowing our gap to be over a minute before the second climb, and grow to around five minutes during the second lap. When the break hit Michigan Hill again, it turned out to be the entrance to the pain cave. We had already dropped a couple riders on the second hill, and I ended up being the last man in line over Michigan. It was one of those times in racing where, you forget about trying to finish, you forget about hanging on the backstretch, you throw out any ideas of the power you need to accelerate over the top, all you do is try to get every ounce of power you can out of your legs in that second. Somehow my legs had the exact amount of power I needed to stay on a wheel over the top. As we begun the descent, I was slightly cross eyed from the climb, and our group went considerably faster than I've ever been down that hill before. There were a couple moments, when I wasn't sure I was gonna stay on the road. Our second time across the backstretch, our group took it a little easier (25 mph-ish). But after all the work earlier, I had a harder time staying on wheel. As we made our way up the last climb, the toll of the previous miles calmed the other guys legs, so I didn't hurt too bad there. On the last stretch to the finish, it became a game of "don't be the leader" and we happily let a Starbucks rider hold a 100 meter gap for around 5 km. As we got within 3 km of the finish, guys started heating things up and jockeying for position. I hopped on the wheel of the larger HSP guy, because he made a good draft and wasn't too skittish, however, just for my faith he started putting his handlebars inside the bars of the guy next to him 8( I backed off and sat on the back for a minute, but next thing I knew I was on his wheel again. As we got inside 1 km HSP guy started making his way up the right side while the whole group accelerated. Around the 200 meter sign he hit the front and accidentally gave me a great lead out. When I saw that I had good momentum and was at the front, I decided to just sprint for it. As it turns out my legs had a lot more of sprint than I expected and I was in the lead. One of the Starbucks riders caught my wheel on my way by and managed to come up around me at the line. I was quite happy with "first loser" though.
(Warning: the following contains TMI) the entire race my stomach wasn't completely settled, one of the reasons I sat on rather than make people happy and take my fair share of pulls, however racing ain't fair. As I came across the line I felt like I was gonna throw up, like one normally feels after a great sprint or time trial...however I did...yeah, I'd heard of it happening to runners, but never cyclists. Anyways, I positive proof I was working hard :/ (end of TMI section)Adam pulled out a solid finish in the group, and we were pretty satisfied to have pulled off our plan. I definitely wasn't the strongest rider there, however racing is 50% training and 50% smarts...in this case the smarts paid off!
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