Not what I was expecting.

This weekend kicked off the 2013 Virginia cycling season, the William and Mary Winter Classic to be more specific. After I registered for the race last week, I immediately checked WeatherUnderground rain was in the forecast. Yesterday, Saturday morning started with 6:00am butterflies followed by heavy sighs from the inevitable monsoon taking place. Since the Cat4 road race started at 10:00am we wanted to be on the road headed to Williamsburg by 7:30am. Once on the highway, the rain picked up as well as 64West was backed up at the HRBT. After making it through the tunnel we picked up a teammate, and our rain filled journey continued. We arrived at York River state park around 9:00am, once registered, we bundled up it was 40s no sun and tons of rain; after getting the bikes off the racks and tires pumped up it was warm-up time. 10:00am sharp we all lined up and the neutral roll out commenced. Once the whistle blew my heart rate sky rocketed, I clipped in, started my Garmin and away we went. Within half a mile my glasses were useless from the rain and tire grit and my contacts had a nice coat of mud forming. Before the race started I created a mental checklist to work on during the race: stay towards the front, fight for position, don't over worry and if there is a break away chance take it. The first lap consisted of a bunch of nervous riders in the rain clinging to their brakes, even the lead up to KOA hill was slow, once we reached the hill it was sketchy and choppy, but thankfully uneventful. The second lap was a little faster, riders remained nervous and I kept my cool. The third lap was horrid, once up the KOA hill the speed picked up, about 3 miles later I was in good position third row from the front, right in the middle when it happened. The rider in front of me hit his breaks at the foot of a small climb, instead of eating his wheel I veered to the right, my immediate reaction was to lean into him with my helmet "seeing Mark Cavendish do this numerous times it was etched into my mind" hoping he would hold me up, instead of letting me go down taking half the peleton with me, luckily it worked. As soon as the starting line was visible the pace rocketed up, the last lap has started. At this point I was in great position top ten, and since there wasn't much movement I was rested as well. The KOA descend was extremely slow, which I wasn't expecting, once the climb started there was no room too move up. At the top I was rested by the next straight I was rested up with no attack nor anyone doing any work. The final is where I knew I had to attack, so as everyone slowed I geared down and out of the saddle I went creating a gap between me and the peleton. I kept my head down until I was tired, looking back there was just a gap no one came with me so I let off the pace some but stayed on the front, remembering to leave some in the tank I peeled off the front and back into the peleton. As the last straight crept up on me I moved into a good position around twelfth taking a left onto the finish road with 1km flying by me. Out of the saddle I went, the riders quickly opened across both lanes, all of the sudden the motor pace bike started beeping his horn attempting to push the riders back into a single lane "which was not advertised" causing a shit storm of a crash. The riders in front of me toppled, knowing I was certainly headed for a crash I chose to swerve the rider and his bike for the wet grass that looked much softer; once whipping out and realizing my only injuries were soreness I shook it off and rolled to the finish line. Although I'm a bit shaken up, I can't wait until the Chesapeake crit, March 10th. Keep the tires on the pavement and the bike right side up.