How to do everything right and still not win

One thing I know about the Wente Road Race is that if I want to win I need to not have Chris Phipps near me for the finish. This year I came around the final corner to the finish climb with about a 10-15 second gap over Chris in the chasing group. And yet I did not win.

 Again... On the plus side, as a team we did everything right.

On the second lap Jeromy got away after the top of the climb and was shortly joined by Dan Bryant (Folsom Bikes) and Nick Theobald (Safeway). Over the next few laps the gap grew to two minutes while Craig, Mike and I sat in and enjoyed the free ride. Things heated up on the third lap and the gap started coming down. After we got the bell and got to the top of Flynn Road the gap was down to 15 seconds on our reduced group of around 10-15. After the descent and on to Patterson Pass Road heading towards Cross Road I saw that Jeromy had left his companions behind. They didn't have enough gap or enough gas in the tank to hold it, but Team Specialized was still in excellent position. As we crested the last roller on Cross Road I saw an opportunity to attack and got away clean. On to Tesla Road and I caught up to Dan and Nick. I eased up for a second on their wheel so that I could go by "with authority" and not allow them to catch my wheel.  This did not work.  So I sat on them. In no mans land. I couldn't bring those guys back up to Jeromy. On the big roller on Greenville I attacked again and got a gap.  But they caught me again.  Out of nowhere, teammate Mike Sayers came by and we all came together into a group of five with THREE Team Specialized riders. This was getting good. Mike was recently back from a USA Cycling trip coaching the U23 development team and not at his best so he rode hard tempo on the front all the way to the Motocross park on Altamont Road. His job done, Jeromy took over at the front. Because you know, it's not like he had done anything yet. :-)  The gap behind looked reasonable. I was fresh and getting a chariot ride to the finish. All I had to do was go full gas for about 3 minutes at the end to win the race. Nobody in my group was going to challenge me after being off the front all day. Things were looking good.  Jeromy got me to the corner and I took off. I dropped Dan and Nick pretty easily and tried to get the most out of my legs to get me to the finish ahead of the hard charging field.  As I crested the steepest part I heard somebody say "Phipps is coming". No what I wanted to hear. Sure enough, about 2 minutes into my 3 minute death march Chris came up and by me with Nate Parks close behind. I tried to dig for more, but I was tapped out. What I was doing was all that I had. To add insult to injury Andres Gil was coming too. I dug for all I had and just....   Got caught with about 5 meters to go.  So as it turns out what for me is a 3:08 full gas effort is only a 2:46 full gas effort for Chris (and a Strava KOM to boot)  This exact same thing happened to me in 2011. I need to learn how to get a bigger gap!  So, what could we have done better?  Nothing. We rode a perfect race. Jeromy took his shot and in doing so kept the pressure off of the rest of us. I made a text book move to bridge up to my team mate clean, Mike did the same and we had three out of five in the final group. I paced my effort really well I think. I didn't go to easy and get caught. I didn't blow up and flail my way to the finish. Chris, Nate and Andres just went faster.  The only problem is that Chris is just a freakishly good climber and 10-15 seconds at that point just isn't enough.  We are riding well, our tactics are sound, the wins will come.

Kevin Metcalfe