Lou Maltese Memorial

After a month of not racing I got the fire back in my belly and entered into the Lou Maltese Memorial Race, a big open race--riders from outside the club could enter--in honor of one of the founders of my club, CRCA. With more unknown riders, and a few who had little if any racing experience, the peloton was nervous throughout the morning, despite the lack of rain. At certain moments I felt unsafe sitting 7th back off the front. I wasn't in the best of shape but I took a couple digs before missing the winning break (I knew the riders were strong, but I figured the group could pull them back eventually, unfortunately I was wrong). In some senses it was a thankfully uneventful race. I tried to make a jump about a half mile away from the finish line to pick up 5th place, but the pace was too high, I had too little left in the tank, and so I couldn't sustain enough of a gap. I didn't really want to get involved in a bunch sprint with several riders I had never seen before and had reserves about their handling ability so I sat up and came in towards the back to not risk a crash. Team SixCycle are watermarked accordingly, SKN Photography provided others. More photos from the Moto here and here, thanks to NYC Velocity/ "MQ." Like always, pics are of my group only, follow the jumps to see all photos of the day's racing.