If you've never raced the Brandywine course, it's a ton of fun. Fast downhills (47mph was my registered top speed on one of the downhills), with fast turns, and some strategic uphill sections during this 5 mile loop. This year, the finish was a separate 1.2 mile section of road with lots of fun ups and downs, making it a very fast and exciting finish. About 45 guys started the race. We did a great job rotating and covering breaks during the race, and nobody had anything even close to successful. At one point, I tried a two man break with Garner Woodall (of Rockville Harley Davidson), but we were quickly caught within a few minutes. Chris Weidmeier (aka Squirrel) took a long solo flyer, showing his legs, but was also caught as nobody wanted to bridge up. Nick was on the front much of the time, covering First State Velo who kept throwing 2 man flyers, which were immediately run down. Nobody was letting anything go.
Just before the uphill, that lead to the final 1.2 mile finishing road, one rider attacked and was let go solo (big mistake on our part... we all thought he went too early, and were happy to let him blow himself up). Evolution attacked at the beginning of the 1.2 mile finish (also uphill), and the counter attacks were on. The Evo initial attack blew away most of the pack, with maybe 10-12 guys left, countering each other for the last 1.2 miles. The solo rider was in site, but had too much distance on us; he finished 10 seconds in front of the sprint finish.
2,3,4 & 5th place were all within 12 inches of eachother as we crossed the line. I nipped Nick Cossa at the line for 2nd, with Nick taking 3rd. Chris Weidmeier was also in the top 10 (I believe he was 7th, but I'm not sure. Also, I think it's time to remove Chris' nickname of Squirrel; he didn't wreck... didn't cause any wrecks... and was able to battle it out in the sprint finish without flying off his own bike. :) In the meantime, Nick has vowed to outsprint me in the coming D20 Crit Champs in Wilmington, where I suspect he will make good on his promise. :)
As a side note, I'm pretty sure this puts me 2nd in the MABRA Cat 3 BAR, but I'm not certain. Ironically, I have to win the upcoming Crit Championships (not likely) to upgrade to a 2... it's hard to get that many top 6 finishes! Looks like I'll be spending next year as a 3 after all, so I don't want to hear any sandbagging complaints about me not upgrading. :)