no pain, no gain (Andy)

So I finally got my balls to drop and decided to race Cat 1,2,3 rather than Cat 3,4 in order to improve my chances of improving and get a good hard race in. This race happened to be the 3Sports Circuit Race which was 10 laps of a 5 mile loop, nice roads, 3 small hills with half the course exhibiting a disgusting headwind. Anyway upon arrival to the race I ran into 5 members of the Evolution Cycling Elite squad which is comprised of Cat 1 and Cat 2 riders only. They decided to work me into their plans which flowed like this: Of the 20 racers in the 123 race there were 3 main teams; 3Sports, Cobblestone, and Evolution. There were also a mix of other teams represented by only 1-2 riders. The Evolution stratedgy was to sit in, cover any breaks by the other teams, and hope to get our 2 sprinters to the line. If the breaks were no made my 3Sports or Cobblestone we were to let them go.
The race begins and im immediately up front covering the incessant breaks launched by the 2 opposing teams. During this period I let a 2 man break go as instructed seeing as they were individually represented. After 4-5 laps of covering these breaks I decided to slip to the back and let some of my teammates have a go at it. Unfortunately during this brief respite my teammates let a 4 man break go which both 3sports and Cobblestone were part of. My team leader drifted back to me and asked if I could bridge up to the break which was a good quarter mile ahead of the pack by this point. I told him Id try and launched a huge breakaway as my teammates blocked the front. Bridging up to a break looks and feels sort of like this...plus or minus the perceived physical torment.
I chased the bastardized breakaway for 2 laps with no luck...4 against 1 and they saw me coming. After some time I burned out and was reeled in by the pack...mind you by this time I had only 2 teammates left, the rest had dropped. Evolution decided that we may be able to reel in the break if we pace-lined the front, so I was back in action, taking pulls and burying myself for the team to catch the winning break away. By this point I was exhausted and with 2 laps to go I noticed the pack had shrunk to 4 3sports riders and myself. ALL my Cat 1,2 Evolution teammates had dropped. I finished the race in 9th position behind the 6 riders who were in the break. Afterwards my Elite squad teammates had nothing to say......seeing as how the only rider on the team to finish the race was a Cat 3.