“Get a camera” was Don’s response to the high BVF attendance at the Al Toefield Memorial Road Race: Norm, Pete, Don, Seth, Joel, Scott, and new rider Andrew were in the field.  El Presidente himself stated, “I expect to see some results with this many guys riding.”  Aye.

Round and round Prospect Park we went in a mid-sized CAT4 field totaling about 60 riders.  There were 2 primes in the first half of the race that we monitored closely but we did not contest.  Going into the last half of the race, each of us took turns covering the front of the pack and going with any potential moves.  Nothing evolved from any of the break attempts and it was clear that it would finish in a field sprint.

Coming down the hill and going into the final 1km, Andrew rode the front of the pack and kept the pace up, averting the usual formation of logjammed riders who softpedal ask one another, “Are you going?”  “No, are you?”  Feeling the urge with about 500m remaining, Norm shouts “Lets go!”  Scott calls “Left!” to Andrew and he opens a little gap on the side.  400m out and Scott is committed to the lead-out, going full-bore.  On the far right, the Miya Shoji youngsters have begun their own line and we’re neck-in-neck at 200m to go.   Norm hits the afterburners and rockets for the line, thinking he at least locked up second or third place; there were so many crossing the line at the same moment from the two parallel lead-outs that the outcome was unknown.  After lengthy debate among the riders, the dying video camera's battery was revived and the results came clear: Norm 4^th, Scott 6^th.

We have another chance next week!