So, its been a while since my last post, and the racing has continued to progress. Due to success in the 3/4 races in Central Park, as well as the CRCA club races in the ‘B’ division, I am being bumped up to the ‘A’ group, despite my current status as a Cat4. My Cat3 upgrade will be coming soon. Anyway, last weekend was my first real out of town race with a field of NYC guys as well as talent from New England and New Jersey. The Jiminy Peak Road Race is a major spring highlight for many area racers and I was excited to tackle my first race on real open roads. The cat4 field raced 3 18mile laps on rural, Western MA roads with a mile-long power climb to reach the finish line. We even had a rolling neutral start for this race and a neutral wheel support van following the field. It was cold, rainy and very windy at the start for the 113 guys in my field. I had 4 team mates who had committed, most gallantly, to ride for me in the race due to my good form and recent successes. I was able to spend the majority of the race out of the wind, just watching for any splits in the group. On the last lap, my team started coming to the front to animate the race. With a couple of miles before the finish climb, Sanchez-Metro was in pretty good control of the situation, and I was able to hold perfect position. The final climb in not long, and rises in three short, steep steps with false-flats between. The key was to have patience and let the yahoos try to sprint from the bottom and let them die by the middle of the climb. By the time we reached the third and final steep section, I sat first or second wheel, where I patiently watched. Waiting, waiting, waiting, I finally upshifted, and popped the biggest acceleration I could find just as the finish line came into sight. Nobody could come with as we were pretty pegged coming up the hill. I crossed clear of any other riders by a good margin. The best feeling was standing at the top and watching my team mates react one-by-one as they realized that our careful planning over dinner the night before had worked to perfection. They were probably more pumped than me. After waiting in the finish area for the official results to be finalized and the protest period closed, I rode back to the start area, down the 50mph descent with my payout in my back pocket. I reached our car to find my team mates already celebrating. Photo, hugs, shower, hit the road to head home and go back to preparing for my Microbiology exam on bacterial pathogens… A great weekend, made even better by the support and encouragement of my wonderful team, to whom I owe a huge debt of gratitude.