Crit Racer

Well, last night was week 7 of the MP crits, but only #6 for me, as I skipped a wet one to come hang out with Raine before she left town(good husband fanfare). I didn't know what to expect from my legs, I'd done 4 days of hard riding leading up to the crit. I managed to hang in for the whole race, and even put on some fireworks at the very end. Most of the race was pretty uneventful, a few breaks went but were always brought back without too much trouble, there was one early crash, and I just tried to stay as far forward as possible to minimize the surges. As the race was nearing the end and the lap cards started coming out a break went but didn't have the steam to stay away. Then with a little over two to go, as the break came back Leonard from Bike Barn countered, he got a good gap and nobody wanted to chase. I think this was a tactic with people up front blocking to let him go for the win. I was feeling ok and itching to start a chase, Bike Barn has a great team and they've been controlling the crits all Summer, so I didn't want to see them win again and take any Sugar rider out of the equation. I tried to get out of the pack and go on the back stretch but I was totally blocked in and couldn't get out. As we came around a corner in the back, I saw a hole to the outside so I jumped. Just as I was punching it a rider in front of me bobbled and swung wide into my path, forcing me onto the edge of the road. Right as this happened I heard bikes and concrete colliding behind me and I was afraid I had caused a crash(later found I didn't) but I knew I had to hold myself together and keep going. I somehow held it together(skilz :) ) and jumped off the front, expecting some people to come with me and chase down Lenny. As I got my gap I looked back and no one had even flinched. What's the deal? I didn't know why nobody chased but now I could either sit up and fade back in or keep going solo to try to catch Lenny and hang on and see what we could do. I decided to take the hard road and put the hammer down. I got a great gap on the pack and was closing well on Leonard. As I crossed the line on the bell lap(1 to go) I was giving it all I had and was hurting bad. I looked at my HR monitor, 199BPM already and I still hadn't caught up and we had a whole lap left!! I kept it punched for as long as I could but ran out of steam just short of catching up. After sitting up once I decided not to give up yet and to try to keep pushing. I repeated this twice and eventually just couldn't push anymore. I was forced to soft pedal and let the pack pass me by with only half a lap to go. :( They also caught Leonard, so he didn't get the win and at least my teammates had a chance to go for it. Looking back, he may have sealed his own fate by working hard to not let me catch him. If I'd been able to catch up and give him a good draft for just a little bit he might could have recovered enough to get us to the line out front. But that's racing. One of my teammates got sixth in the field sprint, so I may have bought him one position with my effort.

Unfortunately, it was one of my teammates who went down behind me with 1 1/2 to go. But, that's racing. I was glad to know I didn't cause the crash.

I'll be back for more next week, I've officially started my training plan now so hopefully more improvement will be coming soon!