The End is Nigh

Darkness is creeping up on us and the time change, although it's been moved back by our all-knowing gub'ment, is coming.
Last night, the TNCWC went off @ 6:30 for the last time off the season. We did 40 minutes plus 2 and rolled home in the dark.
The race started mellow enough and we basically rolled around for the first 10 minutes. The headwind up the front was BRUTAL. I looked at my PT graph from last night and could see everytime we went up the front and short chute. How did I know...? Well, let's just say I normally don't need to turn 500 watts on the front stretch...!
Anyway, @ 15 minutes in, JayC attacked and took Der Kaiser with him. No one did anything and the gap was immediate. At the end of the backstretch, BCR came out of the group like he shot out of a fucking cannon and bridged to the leaders.
We started working well together and actually began to pull it back. We were about 150 off the break when OLD FART Jeff let a huge gap open and shattered the chase. The kicker is the fact that he started yelling for us to chase and ride harder. If you can yell and scream after you leave a giant gap, then you probably had enough to hold the wheel in front of you. He yelled for about 10 minutes...from the very back of the group. I made the effort to drift back and try to take him out the back. I let a huge gap go and forced him to chase. It was worth getting gapped and sitting out a lap. If the old fart yells again next week, I'm going to embarass him in front of everyone. I wasn't the only one who was perturbed about it either...ther was much grumbling, even from those who rarely show any emotion on rides.
Anyway, we started working again and closing the gap, but some folks just don't understand 'through and over'. The line would get shot to hell in the corners or people would hit the front and take long, suicidal pulls. People, if you take a short, hard pull, then come over, it's actually easier...
The gap was coming down with two to go, but the break was too strong. BCR showed JayC what a clean set off wheels looked like in the sprint and won yet again.
I felt better than I have in a long time, but still have lingering shit in the lungs and head.

Next week, the TNCWC goes off @ 6:15. It's the first of the last 2, so be there...