The drive up to Natchez was going smoothly until I turned west. Up ahead the sky was black. I checked the radar and it didn't look very promising. Fortunately, it was still just 9:30 am and my race didn't start until 2:00 pm. At least there was hope. The Juniors raced mostly in the rain today, and with a lap or two left to go the wheel truck had exactly one wheel and no indication to whom it belonged. Very few had put wheels into the follow car despite the rain and wet road. Last year under similar circumstances the Cat. 4 wheel truck had gone through something like 40 wheels on this course.
So when I learned that Michael had left his spare wheels at home I put mine into the wheel truck for him before the Cat. 5 race started. A couple of laps later the pack went by and he wasn't there. The next thing I heard was "Thanks Randy" as he and my front wheel went by a little while later. He wasn't too far behind and the pack seemed to be going pretty slowly, so I really thought he'd be able to catch, but no such luck. Meanwhile, Charles was hanging in there nicely and ended up finishing 6th. 
The Master 35+/45+ race, which ended up including also a few 30+ riders, had a good-sized field and considering that there were three well-represented teams on hand I figured I'd just sit in the middle of the field and let them battle it out amongst themselves. Ha! The race was pretty fast and a break went off the front right away. I was struggling a bit and already regretting my aforementioned "plan." On the plus side, the roads were more or less dry. So riders kept going off the front of the pack and soon I was completely confused about who and how many were up the road. I'd also lost count of the laps (we were to do nine) on, like, lap 2. I guess we were about halfway through the race when someone attacked the big hill. Woody and Frank exploded past and just like that there was another break up the road and a lot less horsepower left to chase anything. Thing were not going well. It was just a lap or so later that we went flying through this one fast downhill turn that I felt the rear wheel go all squirmy. Not good. I bounced a couple of times and felt the rim hit the ground, so I backed out of the group and looked back for the wheel truck. A few minutes later I was back on the bike. The wheel truck graciously gave me a couple of minutes of draft, but at the rate the race had been going I knew I wouldn't be seeing the group again. So that was it. I rode out the last three laps for the exercise and really have no idea where 
I ended up overall, although apparently I was 7th in the 45+ division. That last break, the one with Frank and Woody, was the one I should have gone with. Not that I had much of a choice, of course. They must have caught the break because Woody won the 35+ race with Tim in 2nd, and Frank the 45+.So I guess I'll ride the Cat. 1/2 race tomorrow and see how far I get before I'm dropped.
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