Charles Kyle wrote Leonardtown 2010 Cat 3/4 Crit Nothing to say except this was a fast race. I threw my hat into the 3/4 race even though I knew that this was a very technical race. We lined up ready for the start and with the whistle it was a full out sprint. The first thing that went through my mind was wondering if this was cross race and we were going for the hole shot. The answer is YES. Why??? Well on turn one there was a 120 degree uphill turn. If you were a 3 and in front, you negotiated this pretty easily at high speed, if you were a 4 in the middle or back, hold onto your backside. Yes, lap one wreck one. I made it through unharmed but there was already a gap. So here was massive effort number one to get back on the back of the main field. This effort would be repeated every time until another wreck that broke the pack into threes. About 20 racers were in the front, ten of us in the chase and a group off the back. After about 30 minutes, my chase group was gaining no ground no matter how hard we pushed. Finally, after being 1:15 off of the main field, the refs said that we were on our bell lap and the nine of use should sprint for glory. So we came around, out of the saddle for a “chase group” sprint finish so that we could graciously be pulled. So I got second in the nine man sprint, which gave me 23rd overall. For as fast and as technical, it was a good day for me. I just wish I could have stayed in the main group. ***