The Red Dog 100 in Jefferson City, MO was a really cool gravel race. It was actually 108 miles with some good climbing throughout the race. We started out at a fairly easy pace with about 15 riders in the lead group. By the time we arrived at the first checkpoint we were down to 9 in the group. The pace continued to be moderate, but around 60 miles things picked up a little. Around 67 miles we turned into a little headwind and one of the riders from the Subaru team went out front hard. A teammate went with him. I started to go with them just as I got a flat. Quickly pulling off the road, I tried to get the tube changed, but I had lost over 6 minutes. I finally got back on the bike and started chasing. Knowing I had 40 miles left, a lot could still happen. I tried to be conservative and not hammer too hard, but I also tried to push the climbs. I knew that was where I would be able to maybe make up some ground. It wasn't until after 90+ miles that I saw another rider up ahead of me. The last 12 miles I continued to close in on now two riders. With about 1.5 miles from the finish, I closed the gap and caught both of them. We went over the bridge into town and down to the finish. I ended up 5th in the open division. Pleased with my effort that I only was behind the leader by 7 minutes & 28 seconds, roughly the time it took me to change a tube.
