First Road Race Prairie Roubaix

First race of the season you could sense the nervousness & excitement in the peloton for the B racers. A few racers (Old Rob W no pun intended with age) right off the gun had an abundance of enthusiasm & wanted to gap & did. The peloton then rallied about 1/4 into the first lap & caught the lead pair. Nice try Welchie said!! & then he went off the front like an angry warrior!. The main group quickly stretched out & racers began battling for mini groups based on how the hills were treating them. A group was forming near the front & a gap was opening up so I made a concentrated effort to catch the back end. When we turned onto Willow road we caught a very proud Welchie that was given his well deserved honour! The front group of 9 men consisted of 3 bow cycle guys, a bicisport rider, myself, a few team jersey riders I didn't recognize & an independent rider. When we turned onto Glendale road the front boys laid the hammer down to establish a discouraging gap. As we finished the gravel section & began our uphill climb to begin the 2nd lap I saw Clark trying to bridge so I pulled out of the main group for a few seconds dropped back & paced him up. We than began turning up the screw again once we took a sharp south turn onto Locheed road. Clark displayed enormous courage to stay in the pack however expended much energy from bridging the gap & got dropped before the turn onto willow road. The main group eased up on the gravel section for the 3rd lap & everyone seemed like they were wanting to recover for the final gravel sprint. On the 4th lap right before turning onto Willow road the Bicisport rider had a 30-45m gap from the other 8 riders. He seemed to not be pulling for most of the race so most riders assumed weakness however he was strategically playing fatigue mind games & displayed this sabotage late in the race! I decided to bridge the gap & in doing so taxed myself somewhat & left what was most likely my last energy for the sprint if the main group caught back up. We had the gap but our legs didn't hang on & we swallowed our pride & faded back into the back of the group. Onto the gravel section for the 4th lap. All hell broke loose. Everyone attacked & there was now 2 lines to follow & I was near the back & kept hopping from whichever line looked stronger. The 9th rider popped off the back & there were 8 of us to determine the glory of the first hosted Speed theory PR B race! 5 riders got a gap & left me in 6th place trying to bridge. the 2 riders behind looked like they were fading however as soon as the gravel ended & the uphill finish began they put the hurt on me. I tried letting it all out on the sprint but had nothing left & finished 8th place. All in all a hard course & a well fought first season battle for Speed theory! Jevon