Today's chance at some sort of redemption for the 3 flat mishap takes the shape of the Suisun Criterium in Suisun Harbor, CA. A lovely little hamlet with a small downtown crit course of .52 of a mile. That means lots of laps!
Without teammate Darren to race, I decide to do the 35+3,4,5 crit in hopes of taking advantage of the advanced age group and finally getting some upgrade points. The race starts with a near full field and we are off for 36 laps of pure joy.
Right off the bat, a guy goes clear and in this race, (with its short course) if you can get out of site you have a chance to stay away because the pack will forget about you. Not this year....I wasn't about to let that happen again. After 3 more guys made attempts to bridge and join the guy off the front, me and about 3 other guys pretty much did a bulk of the work too bring the race back together. Once that happened I was pretty cooked and decided to sit in for a bit and recover. Thats when another attack happened. Unfortunately NO ONE responded. (this is why you need teammates) Now there were 4 guys off the front and soon they were out of sight. DAMN!!!
With 10 laps to go, I was hoping the group would finally pick up the pace and we could try and get these guys back but to no avail. With 5 laps to go it was all about setting up for the final lap....even if it was for 6th place. With that said, 2 more guys bolted and being blocked I couldn't follow and no one else bothered. God I hate racing sometimes but there was some good blocking going on. Now heading into the final lap there was still some type of pride still on the line and that is what I was left racing for. Unfortunately the group bunched in the last 2 turns and I had to touch brakes a few times but bounced to the inside and got to the finish in 9th place. Probably the most dissatisfying top 10 I have ever netted.
So with the race now over, I should just go take a nice warm down ride and go home right? Normally that would be the correct answer but I am not normal and like I said I was not satisfied. So to punish myself for the 9th place finish, I took a 5 minute break and got back on the line for the next race...the CAT 3. F*&k it I thought....I'll use it as a workout.
The original plan was to try and hang for 20 of the 40 laps...that would be a good workout. After 5 laps in, I thought there was no way I could do the aforementioned 20 laps. At 10 laps I convinced myself that I could do the next 10. With 17 completed there was a surge and that was almost the end of me but I hung on. Then I saw it, the 20 lap count had been achieved. Pull off and go home...good workout right? Yeah..but that didn't happen.
So I convinced myself to do 5 more, just to see how I felt. When I got those 5 laps in, I decided I could do 5 more. Now there were 10 laps to go and NO ONE was running away with this race. The pace was high and pack was moving but I was still there. So I said to myself "Self, at 5 laps to go I will pull off, by then it will get fast and I will pop". I truly said it to myself, but it didn't happen. With 5 to go I was still there and I was moving up. In a starting field of 80 I was now sitting in the top 25. The I told myself, I would go till 1 lap to go, then just cruise the last lap. Good idea...but didn't happen. Now with 3 laps to go, my balls started growing. I have a shot in this freakin' race. I'm going to go for it! Then it was 2 laps to go. There was a surge and I stood on the pedals and there was a cramp! Uh oh...better ease off a bit. As we entered the bell lap, the pack surged again and again I was out of the saddle and now there were 2 cramps. 1 for each quad. As we hit turns 3 and 4 I was about to just sit up since I was boxed in. Then a lane opened up and I shot thru and the cramps shot thru my legs again. Coming out of turn 4 I wasn't in bad position but I couldn't contest the sprint and finished out 22nd.
Oh well...considering I just did 76 laps with virtually no rest in 2 consecutive races, I will take it. And it was a really good work out!
No comments:
Post a Comment