Cascade Classic - Stage Six

Not too much to say about the final stage.  I flatted 17 minutes into the race, and after the slowest wheel change ever, I got a push from neutral support and a wave good-bye.  Well they didn't really wave to me, but they should have.  I got a bit of help from the chase moto-ref, but he was mainly teasing me staying about 20 feet too far in front of me.  I eventually did catch back onto the last car in the caravan, but this was after a HUGE time trial effort to get there.  The Rock Racing car was actually being the nicest, letting me ride the bumper for a bit, but the peloton was just flying!  As soon as we hit the first steep climb of the race, followed by an extremely long false flat through the feed zone, I just had nothing left to move up.  The cars rolled away from me, and the moto-ref told me, "It was a valiant effort, there are some more climbs coming up, maybe you'll catch back on," and took off.  Well I didn't, so I rode back to the car and drove home to shower.

Little did I know that Colt had crashed out before me, so when he got back to the parking lot I had taken the car.  Then i went back to the race to feed and he wasn't there.  It was a small wild goose chase, but I eventually just went back to the house, and he had ridden home.  I was pretty mad that bad luck took me out of the final placings, since I would have most likely been in the top 70 if I would have finished.  But who knows since the race was shattered. 

There is always next year, and I am definitely coming back to this amazing race!