Warda Race 2012

Last weekend was The Warda Race. There's really not much to write about, but I'll give it a go anyway. Saturday we went up to hang out and get in a preride. I did two laps by myself, the first I was just trying to get back into the groove of riding singletrack and check out the new stuff they'd added since I'd last ridden there at the 2011 race. The second lap I tried to pick it up a bit but just wasn't feeling it. My legs had felt a bit flat in my ride Thursday and they kinda felt the same way. I let it hang out just a little bit on Gas Pass to try to go for the Strava segment, it was a good run but not quite enough. I knew I had a little more to give, so I didn't worry too much. After my second lap Ben did the Kids' Cup race put on by our buddy Rick Wetherald. He had fun, he really liked lining up with the other kids and riding around on the course.  He's gonna be a bike racer for sure.

Lining up for the Kids' Cup

 After the Kids' Cup I went back out for another lap with Alan Johnson and a friend of his. We weren't going too fast, but mixing it up with Alan in the singletrack got me back in the groove a little which was good. When we got to Gas Pass I dove in wide open planning to let it all hang out and snag the segment KOM. About halfway down I ran into a junior racer and dad preriding so I had to abort the run, which was unfortunate as I'm pretty sure I would've gotten it done.

Sunday morning I drove up by myself to start my race at 11AM. My 19-29 Cat. 1 group started with the 30-39 group, so there were 46 people on the line, only 17 of them in my group. I don't mind racing a lot of people, except in this case I never had any clue where I was within my race and didn't know who I was racing against. So that was a bit weird, normally you can know whether you're doing well or not and work your race around that a bit, but this was just ride. I started about 2/3rds of the way through the pack, and fell back a little bit on the long, super fast start. I passed a few on the downhill to the pond, then lost a few more on the way back up the hill to the singletrack. I probably went into the woods near or at the back of the top 10 in my group, and maybe 35ish overall. I felt good through the first singletrack section, staying with the long train easily still connected to the leaders. When we popped out to the first pasture section I started going backwards a bit. That pretty much sums up my race: hold my own in the singletrack and then lose ground on the open sections and climbs. The first two laps I felt ok, like I was moving pretty decent on a personal basis. Early in the third lap the pro women's leader caught me in an open section, when we got back in the twisties I was holding her wheel easily. She made a little mistake going up a rooty climb and lost all her momentum, my momentum carried me into her back wheel and I highsided, falling down a steep section off the side of the trail. I was laying downhill pinned under my bike unable to clip out of my pedal. It took me a bit to wiggle out of the situation, then I had to get back up the hill and to the top with my bike before I could remount. Oh well, probably didn't make a big difference in my race the way it was going. But considering the fact that I only finished a minute behind the person in front of me, it might have cost me a place. Anyway, late on the third lap I bonked pretty hard. I hadn't eaten or drank enough during the race and it really caught up with me. The whole 1hr 50min all I had was a couple of shot bloks and maybe half a bottle of HEED. That was not smart. I struggled on to the finish for a 13th/17 finish in my class. I think I still looked pretty good even going slow.

I haven't bought this pic yet but I think this is legal, I didn't steal it and it's posted from the photog's site on a supplied link and it's still watermarked. If I'm in the wrong someone please tell me.

Richard drove over right after church to do the Cat. 3 race, his first in Texas/TMBRA. He did great and got 2nd in his class, without much of a warm-up and having never even seen the course. He is the first member of the Neilson Development Racing Team, I think we're going places.