Preston Street Crit

Ahh the Italian Fest, well it was my second time (of its 36 years in existance) and this year would be the exact opposite to last year, in a few ways, mostly weather...
Last year would be VERY hot and sunny.. this time it started out the same..
Racing with the "B" group, we (Les Rouleurs) had several riders in the race, so it was looking to be promising for the squad to pull out a possible result. I had been sprinting a lot this spring, so was feeling well in that department, Hugo and Dave were there, so some serious help, and Martin as well, very well known for his sprint. So maybe stacking up to be a dangerous squad!
All was going well, for my first crit of the year, and it would be a 50 minutes +5 laps affair, on a 1.2km course. I was a bit off at the begining, working a bit harder than I should have been, but started to settle in by the midway point. At which time I was noticing the "big black cloud" getting a bit closer. Hugo had mentioned a few times that we should be moving up in the pack, I was just starting to get ready to do so with about 20 minutes left on the clock. A couple more laps around and we were at 15 minutes to go and I was ready to put the push on to get up front for the finish. When about the same time I felt a couple of drops, thought I hope that's sweat off the guy in front of me then a hole bunch more drops, which was too gross for any amount of "sweat". It would turn out to be the first drops of rain... which VERY quickly turned into a downpour! About the same time Andrew Davy says to me that it should be an interesting finish, to which my response would be, if we make it that far!
A bit too much truth to that.. in the next 600m the course went from dry to water running over the road! I backed off a bit thinking I was in a bad part of the group and would rather not get caught in the impending crash.. I sometimes hate it when I'm right... on corner two (reminder, it had been raining for all of 45 seconds..) half the pack goes down, everyone always forgets the first 5 mins after it starts to rain is the worst! I managed to pick my way through the bodies, and chase on sitting less than a hundred meters off the main bunch (or what was left of it) I would chase for two laps, when everyone jumped back in from the pits after taking their free lap, note to self in a crit, you can take a free lap when caught behind a crash... They all nicely filled the gap for me, and I was thinking good, now I can easily work my way up to the front, except half a lap later, everyone hits the deck AGAIN! I continue to maitain upright position, and would be back in chase mode, and for another 10 minutes I would sit roughly 100 meters off the bunch..
The winds and rain, only got heavier, lightning and thunder was surrounding us at this point, and all I could do was soldier on, and hope to bridge the gap. With two laps to go, the race would finally get called, due to firetrucks blocking the road, when they got called in to inspect buildings that had alarms go off.. I'm sure the Adobe builing (about 20 stories high, and 200m away) was touched by a flash and very loud boom in front of me with about 5 laps to go.
Needless to say I did not manage to get back on the pack, but I finished upright and on the lead lap! Happy times.
I was well complimented on my smile and seemed enjoyment of the weather, as I did think it was pretty wild and fun, what can I say, I like to be powering along in crappy conditions! It's the Maritimer in me.

PowerTap says!;
36.5km (38.83km/h avg) race cut a bit short, and the rain definitly slowed things down
176 bpm avg/ 187 bpm max
271 Watts avg/ 1,074 Watts max
5 sec peak 897 watts
30 sec peak 556 watts
1 min peak 454 watts
5 min peak 339 watts