Ronde van Brisbeen - Brisbane Marine Criterium in the Masters 35+ Cat 4 division. Rainy in San Francisco when I left the house, but mostly dry on the course when I arrived. Got my hopes up. I walked the course in the opposite direction: it's only .6 miles, but 7 turns, including a hairpin.

While warming up on the trainer near the finish line, the drizzle began. I warmed up for 25 minutes, about 7.5 miles on the trainer... didn't go hard more than once, and HR average was low 140s.

I took my tires down to 100 psi to account for the rain.

Brandon G. and I were the only Dolce Vita riders in the race. Talked a little bit beforehand, but there wasn't much to plan, other than stay safe. Jason Smith, who finished in top 10 in the E3 race right before us, suggested we stay in the front because he had not, and had paid for it with yo-yoing pace. Also, from walking the course and comment pre-race from Thomas G., I knew this would be a hard course to move up on. And, with the twists and the weather, likely to be some accidents, so safer (as always) at the front. Before all those factors, I had planned to sit further back and see if I could move up later on.

Brandon and I both lined up right on the start line, and Brandon led the first couple of laps. Not killing it on the pace, as everyone was cautious in the now heavy rain.

Decided to race without my sunglasses, even with lighter lens. Not sure whether that was a good idea or not, as I was blinking away a ton, and had to dig grit out of my eyes and ears after the race, but so it goes. Brandon wore his sunglasses and said he was blind quite often. Following anyone to sit out of the wind meant eating water and grit. Worth it, but unpleasant.

Every time I slid back into 15-20th position, I would make a move up the finish stretch to move back to near the front, or at the front. When I was at the front, I made a conscious decision to not mash it. There's only a few places on the course to pass, including the turn before the hairpin and (dangerously, but it didn't stop everyone) the hairpin itself. So, when at the front, you could control the pace for maybe half the lap quite easily.

There were 3 primes. I ignored 2 of them, but since one of my moves back to the front was at the same time they announced the prime, I decided to stay at the front and see what I could do without killing myself. Got through the hairpin and then the off-camber chicane with a gap of maybe 3-4 bike lengths, so I decided to go for it. Made the final turn into the home stretch, and just put my head down... and I got nipped by half a wheel by a rider from San Jose Bicycle Club. Same guy who got the other two primes and, later, won the race. After the prime, we were both ahead of the pack by a bit, but he wasn't interested in trying to stay away (this was still with several laps to go), so settled back into the same rhythm. When I glanced at my HR monitor -- and could see it in the rain -- I often saw in the 150s, so I knew I wasn't overextended.

There were some crashes behind me, and I saw at least 2 amazing "saves," where someone almost went down but recovered.

Brandon G. was moving around the front the whole time, often ahead of me, and at times we were right together.

Coming to the line with 2 laps to go, I moved to the front again, and when I saw Brandon was behind me, I said let's go, I'm pulling and you're taking it. Not sure he heard all of it, but he grabbed my wheel, and I went after it. Long way to go, but on this course, if you weren't in the top 5 coming out of the hairpin, you didn't have a chance. Got through to the bell lap still 1-2 with Brandon, and the field stretched out.

I knew I could drill it for at least a lap, and I ended up having enough to almost get through about a lap and a half, before the hairpin. Someone from Colavita went by me, and then two guys from SJBC and Brandon went by, maybe with one or two others. I was maybe 5th coming into the final turn, and held on for 8th. Brandon grabbed another wheel and sprinted for 4th. One SJBC guy led out the strong guy who won all 3 primes for the win.

Happy with the result. Totally soaked, but no crashes and got a top 10 for myself and a podium for a teammate. Mildly disappointed by missing the prime, but it was an opportunistic effort anyway, and didn't blow me out for the rest of the race. Didn't feel too stale from the time trial the day before, though I mentally didn't commit to the race until several laps in.

Average speed 22.5, max speed 29.6
Average cadence 93, max cadence 124