Much Better Day

Yesterday I sucked, today went much better. I was pretty nervous about today's stage of 5 laps, with a long climb at the end of each. Mark Brone took off solo right away. We brought him back, then he went again. We let him go, and he gained as much as 2 minutes. Matt Muyers and Dave Peterson did most of the chasing, with a couple others pitching in once in a while. We caught Brone heading up the hill on the 4th lap, and we were all back together at the bell, minus Chris Johnston who had flatted on the first lap.

The pace amped up as we approached the finish, but it was pretty clear that we were going to have to all duke it out on the climb. I made sure I was towards the front, with room to get through if necessary. Frank Lowry was the first to jump, then yesterday's winner, Brian Haas leaped away. Brian got a solid gap and held it too the line. I made my move at 200m to go, and was able to take 2nd, with GC leader Charlie Jacobs right behind.

The front group was also able to pull enough of a gap, that they split the finish time to the next group including Dobbertin, who held 2nd on GC. I needed 10 seconds to move up to 2nd, and I got 28 between the 2nd place bonus, and the time split. Jacobs still has a comfortable 45sec lead. Teammate Goblirsh is still 4th on GC, but is now just 5 seconds behind Dobbertin.