Story for Eurekan 3/4

     This would be a long entry if I gave a full race report so I'll try and keep it short.  I did the Eurekan road race as a cat 4 for the first time last year.  The distance was around 35 miles and I finished 4th with Corey and Austin right behind me.  It was a fun race and new I'd have to do it again this year.  
     After rolling up to the start I found out that they were combining cat 123, 4/5, and 40 masters.  This was going to be a tough race!  
   The first 5-10 miles were relatively flat, but that first climb really tore the group apart.  I held on for the first two climbs but on the third I got stung out between the main lead pack and the main chase group which included Ben Stringer.  I pedaled on my own for maybe 10-15 minutes until that smaller group caught me.  I jumped on and we started working together.  
   The working together wasn't perfect, but it did work and we eventually caught the main pack.  The pace was slower for a while, but as soon as we hit the next set of hills it was on again.  At about 10 miles out a good portion of the pack got away from me and I was once again on my own chasing a smaller group just up ahead.  I managed to catch them on a climb and two of us got away and started working together to make good time to the finish line.  
   As we approached the line my new riding companion dropped back to conserve energy in hope to sprint past me at the line, but once that line was in site I managed to pull away.  

   While finishing 13th out of 25 in my catagory isn't anything to really write about I was happy with my effort and really enjoyed this year's longer route as a cat 3 racer.  Already looking forward to doing this one again next year.  With a little more training I'm sure I can improve my placing.  Regardless, it's always a pleasure to ride with so many of my team mates in one event.