After last weeks failed attempt at being a part of a successful early break away, I focused on holding my position further back in the bunch to conserve energy this week.  It seemed to pay off with an average heart rate of nearly 10 bpm lower than usual, and I felt much fresher the entire race.  I also tried a higher cadence than normal up the climb on the back to save my legs for following corners where bigger changes in speed are more common and it is sometimes easier to push a high gear out the saddle after the corners.  This plan was all going perfectly, around the 50 minute mark I had moved up into around 7^th place or so and had set myself up fantastically for the final sprint… I had thought of everything, including dumping the excess water in my bottle in preparation for the sprint.  Then it all went horribly wrong.  The 3^rd last corner – a tight left hand corner just after coming down the hill I went in too hot, I went out wide and had to get back on the track from the ripple hump on the outside and lost at least 8 places – this was basically it for me… I held my position (now about 15^th) through to the final corner where I tried to launch an early sprint and draft some faster moving riders to the line.  I moved up a few places but was generally too far behind, too close to blowing up because I had started to sprint so early and any time I moved out of a draft the headwind hit me so bad it was useless.  I just held pace and settled for about 10^th.  It was disappointing that after such a good set up to have thrown it all off on 1 corner, but then I have had other races where the entire race had gone pretty average and then someone else’s misfortune had given me a opportunity and a resulting place.  You win some, you lose some I guess.  At least next race I know to make sure I get those final few corners right.  I think a little slower but still in a good position is better than too hot and lose your spot.