New course for this year. Less climbing but the wind was rough. We did 6 laps of 10 miles. The first Lap was very active as usually with Mike, Chris and Stuart covering most of the moves. After the first lap, there were several big attacks and as it slowed down, I simply rolled off the front to see if I could slip away. I got a descent gap while checking to see if anyone was up chasing, and soon I saw a single file line behind me, which meant they were coming strong, so I shut it down. As they cought me, a few more attacks went off, then again, as it slowed, I rolled off. It doesnt take alot of effort to just roll away when the pace is slow but you can’t create a good gap fast. So like last time, I keep checking to see if others would chase. Tim from Marx and Bendsdorf, whom I have worked well with in the past bridged up quickly with nobody on his wheel and I pulled him along, checking the pack behind me every few seconds. This time they gave us a little breathing room and we jammed it. I rode anaerobically for a few minutes and soon the gap was around 30 seconds. The guy with me was happy to do his share of work and by the next lap, we had over a minute on the feild. I told him to keep pushing hard until the gap grew to a minute and a half and then we could back off. We settled into a good tempo and worked very well together. With us both being big, we can do alot of damage on the flats and downhills so we really backed off on the uphills. This makes total sense to me as when one person is killing it on the flats, the other guy can benefit greatly from the draft until his turn. If you go hard on the hills, the guy behind has to work hard too and then you are both hurting when its time to crush the flats. We kept the gap at 1.5 until the motorcycle told us there was a chase group of 4 one minute behind. Just after the third lap they caught us and my teamate Brian Toone looked strong as always. The chase group was Chris Brown, Will Fyfe, Brian, and a Strong Krystal Cycling rider whom I’ve never ridin with before. Everyone seemed motivated to work and the gap grew. Behind us in the feild was a very motivated Jan Kolar, Jake Andrews, and Travis Werts who tried and tried to bridge the gap, but were shut down by Chris, Mike, and Stuart. I think that working to sit wheels in the feild is a harder job that actually being in the breakaway, since there is attack after attack, and you have to cover all of them. With a lap to go, the motivation to work together lessened and the attacks began. I was surprised to see that me and brian didn’t have to do much attacking but were put on the defensive several times by the other strong riders. We dropped Tim, the guy who went with me early, and the other 5 went to the line together. My teamate Brian gave up any chance to win by setting tempo on the front for the last K and then leading out the sprint for me. Brian jumped and ramped the speeds up to around 35 with Chris Brown on his wheel. I sat still until about 250 meters and then jumped. “when in doubt, lead it out”. When you jump first, you have the element of surprise, but chance having someone catch your slipstream and come around you at the line as you fade. I was able to gap the others with the initial acceleration and was able to hold it through the line. The sprint topped out at 43.5. Brian Held on for forth. Chris led the feild sprint our for Mike and Stuart, who placed very well. I dont know exact placing but they finished somewhere 8th-15th. Overall a very impressive day for Birmingham Velo! I Hope we can replicate it tomorrow for the criterium.