Mason Lake, Men's Cat 4

Mason Lake Road Race, Men's Cat 4

Mason is a 48 mi road race with some rollers but no major climbs. It occurs the day after a 10 mile time trial so my, and many others, legs show up a little stressed. It is known for wind and sketchy road conditions. Today it was dry. but the road was worse than I remember last year. The road shoulder is frequently crumbling away, there is some chip seal, gravel and sometimes moss.

Shawn, Jon and I signed up for 4's, we had quite a few people in 5's, Tina was in women's, and Joel in Men's 3's. I haven't been riding well in the TT's so was a little concerned about a first race in a 4 only field (last year raced quite a few 4/5 combined).

Dave, organizer, gave the same annual speech about not being the Mason World Championship but apparently no one listened because we rounded the first corner hauling some serious tail. The first lap was pretty brisk and felt much faster than the numbers below. Probably just a case of being the first event of the year and cornering at full on effort. I was about 20 riders back from the front and had issues moving up any closer than 15th. It wasn't a big disappointed because there was some wind to deal with and the yellow line rule kept it pretty packed (4 wide).
The course fits a rouleur ... the race cruxes are the two sharper corners that both had a slight climb coming out, if you got gapped it was going to require some serious effort to catch back on the group due to wind and whip action. I was happy coming out of the last corner in lap 3 because I knew I had two more efforts in my legs and also felt comfortable with my lines to stay off any brakes.
Lap 4 the pace slowed when we turned back into the wind. I am sure the guys at the front were wearing down and nobody wanted to spend the effort to help tow everyone to the line. 2nd half of the lap it picked up and with about 5K to go I hear ambulance sirens. We go neutral, ambulances go by and the marshal says to roll neutral until we pass the crash up the road. I think most were welcoming the break and I was thinking all hell is going to break loose once we pass the crash. As we approach the scene, I see Andrew from CycleU sitting on the roadside getting medical attention. It didn't look good but Brad was there to support him and I was sympathizing thinking of the times I have hit the pavement. I could see the frustration on his face and was just hoping he was okay. As planned, the hammer went down and everyone was back on the gas. Not 30 seconds later I heard that clatter and cursing that can only be a crash up front, several guys are down and all over the road, I go left and find a small gap but lost speed. We are about 1.5k out and its every man for himself to get to the line. I think the front riders got away clean but I thought I might make top 20. Ended up 26th but happy to make it home alive.
I believe Andrew has a pretty badly hurt hand, Randy also went down but suffered mostly kit and bike damage . Sounds like 5's was pretty ugly. Joel pulled a good result in 3's but was hoping for even better.
Looking forward to Sequim/Tour de Dung