It didn't really suck.

The gods of weather showed us mercy this time around and it made for quite a pleasant afternoon of racing.

I'm quite happy with this race. I stayed competitive and to the front throughout, I initiated, I chased, and I broke away. Yes, you read correctly. Shortly after the halfway mark (5 laps), a Ski Utah rider decided to test his legs. Everyone seemed content to let him hang out there by himself, including me. A lap later and with his team being well represented I thought that if I and maybe couple of other willing riders were to bridge we had a chance to stay the distance. So, on the dirt section I put the hammer down and off I went... alone. At that point my thoughts went something like this: "You dumbass. You just lost this race. That's a strong field back there. They're gonna chase your little butt down and drop it, and you'll be time-trialing off the back just like last year. When are you gonna learn. Way to go Jens Voight".

With 4 laps to go I caught the aforementioned rider, and unbelievably we held them at bay. Lap after lap the ugly smoke puffing train of thoughts slowly morphed into a subsonic supertrain. Could it be? In all fairness, my breakaway companion had an extra lap solo in his legs, but I felt that my pulls were a bit harder and longer than his. I knew that if he bailed I was in trouble as our team was well outnumbered at that point. My silvery shining Maglev lost its electromagnetic appeal as with less than lap to go I was on my own. The chase for my ass was on.

I was caught with a half mile to go, at that point just choo-chooing along. I hung with the group, but couldn't contest the sprint even if I dared. In hindsight, I think last year's gravel was probably more conducive to a solo or small break win than this year's hard beaten dirt (at least in our group). I didn't expect this would be a day for the sprinters. Congrats to Boudie on getting his cobblestone.

OK, enough of this enigmatic scribbling. This is how it really went down:
P.S. Big thanks to the Hoover boys. Their cheers and encouragement lap after lap meant a lot and it helped.