Turlock Lake RR

Today at 8am Kevin Metcalfe, Dean LaBerge and myself hit the starting line for the 1st annual Turlock Lake Road Race. It was going to be a long 107 miles in the middle of nowhere other than a lake. We headed out without talking before the race and knowing that there would be a good possibility of a breakaway getting away with Cal Giant and Kirk Carlsen there. Many people tried to get away and for the ones that did, they were kept on a short leash of no more than 45 seconds. After the 2nd lap of 4, Kevin started bringing out some attacks and the "real race" was getting started.....that is until we were short-noticed by an official as we are barreling towards the turn at 30 mph. We came to an immediate stop and were told that there was an accident and the races had to be stopped. Earlier in our race, there was a nasty crash on the pothole section (luckily we were all up at the front and were safe). We heard that there was a more serious crash from the women's race and 2 medical helicopters had to come in and take them to a local hospital. We laid down on the warm pavement for over an hour, stretching and talking and having fun making jokes. It even got to the point of Kevin and I talking about how we could be blogging at the time about the race while we were stuck for the hour. After the delay, we were able to finally continue our race and oh did my muscles not feel the best after sitting and stretching for an hour and racing for the previous 3 hours. It took a good 1/2 lap to get back into the rhythm of racing again and I felt good. We came into one lap to go as a single group and we knew the last lap was going to be fast. My dad, Kevin, and I were all at some points at the front making attacks, pulling at the front to create gaps and try to pop off anyone. Eventually with about 10 miles to go, Steve Reaney made an attack and the field didn't even move. Kevin immediately went after Reaney and was able to catch him and they started working together. Behind, the field chased the rest of the way to the finish with a couple attacks and eventually Kirk was able to bridge the gap and it was the 3 of them. We closed in on the 3 in the last km and it almost seemed like a bunch field sprint. There were many lead out trains as I hoped from one to another hoping I would find the right one, but didn't. I was finally able to sprint after 107 miles and finished 14th. Kevin got caught and passed with 200 meters to go. This race was proudly presented my Rabobank and they really helped make this have a great venue for being out in the middle of nowhere, so thank you! Hope this race continues next year and see you then!

Thank you for reading.

--James LaBerge