Race the Lake 2012!

2012 Race the Lake was my fourth year in a row. This race is a 90 mile road race that starts in Fond Du Lac and goes around Lake Winnebago. This race starts at 5:45am, that is too dam early! The weather started off a bit cool, but I was able to warm up quickly. This year my goals were to make it up the climb (High Cliff) with the lead group, stay towards the front, and top 3 in my age bracket. Last year I finished 6th in my age bracket, so I figured that this could be a do able goal.
OK, this is how the race went for me in my eyes. I started in first wave 2nd row, great starting position, but if you were to start in the back of the pack, this would be better for timing. Anyways I am not going to dwell on that. The pace wasn't bad and kept towards the front, as long as I could see the front I was happy. There were a couple times when I knew we were coming to more of a dangerous section and I would move closer to the front. Oh by the way there was a small break that went off the front from the start, but we caught them later on. When we were getting close to High Cliff I started making my way towards the front as much as I could. The pace at this point was pretty fast. All I can say about the climb is that I did it to the best of my ability and that kept me with the group. I was in the hurt locker though, but hey I made it. From this point it was relatively boring and was waiting for the fireworks to happen. Nothing, OK, maybe when we get close to St. Peters where there is a $700.00 cash pay out to the first person that crosses the line. Good payout right? I thought so, and was waiting for some of the teams to line it up and make everyone suffer, but that never happened. I wish me and my teammates would have planned to try to go for it, I think we could have had a good chance. Oh well, St. Peters was like 80 miles into the race. Now that we are getting close to the end it is going to get interesting, mainly because there were so many people in the lead group. When we crossed over Hwy 151, now with one guy off the front, it is going to start to get crazy. We never catch that guy the went off the front. It was crazy though, people were fighting for position and making really big stupid choices. With two turns to go, I saw an opening and went through that corner and then I was 2nd wheel, from here it is probably like 700 meters to the finish. I was waiting patiently to go, even though I had someone behind me telling that everyone was coming. This guy was trying to get me to go early. I did wait for others to start the sprint and then I went, and could have been a lot better but, there were 2 people that were leaning up against each other like crazy right in front of my and thought for sure they were going to crash, so that screwed up my sprint. That being said I am still happy with the result. Team finished 3rd in the men's class and I finished 14th overall and 3rd in my age bracket.
o.a. age   bib    name                                                               time          avg. speed
14     3     130     Werbelow, Jeramey West Bend, WI M 30-34   03:26:28.0        25.7

I am not going to do this race next year! I fear for my life every year. I just don't find it as fun as I used to.