Circuito de Evesham Race Report -or- Tyler Wren is a Nice Guy

I lifted this from my post to the HPHermes and RU email lists, so if you've already read it there, you can skip the dashed off parts:

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Ok, so now that I have filled my belly with a few meals since the
race, I think I have the energy to recount it.

I took last week easy because, as Todd and Andy can attest from last
Sunday, my legs really, really needed it.

The course is a two turn 1.6km (1mi for you Imperialists) loop in an
office park with exposed windy sections and a slight rise going into
the final turn. The zenith of the rise is about 500m from the line
and about 200m before the last turn. The Cat3 race was scheduled to
go 27 laps, taking the line after the Masters race had finished.
There looked to be a few promising breaks. One in particular
contained 7-8 which I had missed out on. When the gap was at about 15
seconds, I bridged. This doomed the break because, as I later found
out, I was basically racing with a target on my back. So nothing
stuck and it was gruppo compatto for the final four or five laps. On
the last lap, I was sitting at the front waiting for the wind up into
the small rise. Once we crested it, one rider punched it hard on the
left and everyone (myself included) hesitated waiting for someone to
close. The moments of hesitation proved too much and I managed a 2nd
place finish . . . hoodwinked again!

I had about an hour to kill as the 4/5 race took place so I sat on the
newly-fixed trainer keeping the legs fresh and downing a bottle of
Cytomax. I should have eaten something, but hindsight is 20/20, of
course.

The P/1/2/3 race was about 60km and featured Tyler Wren of
Colavita-Sutter Home as well as many of the top NJ 1s, 2s and 3s
including a large Northeastern Hardware crew and an equally large
Metra-Ideal Tile crew (the latter brought radios, kinda lame if you
ask me). The race was stupid fast from the whistle. A break of 3-5
had a 30 second gap about midway through and looked strong but was
eventually reeled in. At about 5 laps to go, I began to feel the lack
of food and lack of hydration in my legs. Being on the rivet for
about 90% of the time had my back and neck a bit sore, too. At some
point, two Northeastern riders got off the front (my head was buried
so I couldn't tell you when) and were able to hold it to the line. On
the last lap I found the wheel of none other than Tyler Wren himself,
though, despite sitting pretty in 5th or 6th wheel, discovered that
when I tried to make my sprint, my legs seized up. I sat up and got
out of the way, finishing 27th. Northeastern ended up going 1-2-3.

Overall, great weather and great competition made the race a spectacular choice.
--

Missing out on the Cat3 race was really disappointing. Live and learn, I suppose. The P/1/2/3 race was great fun. It really was hard all the time. I had a chance to speak to Tyler Wren afterward and I was really impressed by his genuine character and earnest interest in the goings-on of the "lowly" amateurs with whom he had raced. He was really personable and races 'cross, to boot. What's not to like about this guy? Plus, he's obviously got a massive engine but no pop for a sprint to speak of . . . a great leadout man!

This weekend is going to be lots of fun and filled with good results, I can feel it.