CENTRAL PARK 8/24/08-It's 1st and 2nd!

It was Radical who put in the first attack, with Cecelia putting in a hard one at the end of the first lap. I countered which brought us to around the 102nd St. transverse, at which point Nanci took over for a hard pull down the hill, putting Maggie and Elena in perfect position for a two-pronged attack, which they took full advantage of, shattering the field at top of Harlem Hill.
Becky Koh and Gabby went with them on this attack and a few other riders attempted to bridge up. Nanci, Cecelia, and I reeled in most of the riders who had attempted to bridge, but left Deb and Corinne in no-man's land. I was afraid that if we chased them down we would bring too many of the field riders with us and they were too close to the lead group to risk that. Ellen Moses had also bridged up, which could have made it a dangerous 2-3 matchup but luckily our amazing Raddies at the front had no issues with that and just dropped everyone anyway.

So at this point, we back in the pack basically just rode around on a training ride for a lap and a half, with a bored racer occasionally putting in a little attack here or there, but mostly with the three remaining Raddies just controlling the field. With two laps to go, we decided to spice it up a bit, and Nanci did a repeat lead out down the hill, with Cecelia and I attacking over the top. Lisa Force came with us and we thought we had the break. We were working together hard and well and the group was out of sight behind us. And then by Tavern there they all were again. We still think there might have been a wormhole or something that enabled them to catch up so easily. And I have to say, given how much it hurt to stay away from the group for even that short a period of time, I have more admiration than ever for our fearless leaders at the front.
The group had gotten fairly tired chasing us down, however, and we continued attacking on the final lap. Cecelia and Lisa made one last hard effort around the reservoir on the west side, and were able to stay away through the finish, with Cecelia making mincemeat of Lisa to take 7th overall. I led out Nanci for the field sprint, and she did an awesome job fending off the field in a tough sprint for 9th. I crawled in for fourteenth or so, but who's counting at that point.
Needles to say, Maggie got the 1st place finish with Elena in 2nd!
NICE!