As I sit here, watching The Biggest Loser and eating dinner after a nice ride, my mind has been filled with thoughts on this past weekends race. I headed out to Iowa City for the 32nd Annual Old Capital Crit and Road Race and comparing it to last years performance.
Both days saw the rain gods tormenting all of us. Saturday morning it was raining and the thunder was rumbling. By the time we got out to the course it was just a tad drizzly and stopped when the races started. The 4's went off at 9:05 and it was wet and windy. So glad I remembered my fleece knickers, but I forgot the arm warmers, but it was just warm enough I didn't need them. I felt good the entire time and just kept pushing, even though I fell off the back soon after lap 1. Three of us began to work it and started making some ground on the pack. However, not soon after one of our number fell off and it was just two of us working it. Though we picked up another lonely rider and had another 3 man team. The last stretch of about a mile my legs just blew up. I couldn't keep up the wattage for the push into the finish, so I just kept spinning as best I could. Ended up 29 out of 32, avg speed 22 MPH, 4 MPH faster than last year. Once again, I can see and feel the improvement.
Sunday was the crit. Last year saw me crash after the start on the downhill turn. I wasn't too happy. We arrived at the course in time to get on the rollers and warm up for about an hour. It was raining. I was suffering from some serious anxiety because I just kept thinking of sliding and crashing in the same spot again. About 20 minutes before the 4's race it stopped raining, but the road didn't dry instantly. I lined up and was ready to go, my heart rate was definitely racing. From the start I had trouble clipping in, I'm pretty sure it was my psyche trying to delay the ensuing torture. Everything clipped in I was on the back of the pack, which sort of made me feel a little better. Then the hill came and I was ready, and I made it. With that out of the way I was ready to race. After a couple laps I was blown off the back on the hill. I felt much stronger than last year, but so was every one else. I was out for myself and no one else. For a while there were 4 of us and I was trying to get everyone to work together, but I was getting pissed. Every time I went to pull I pulled hard and fast, and when I rotated back the others went half the speed I was holding. Once we got lapped by the leaders I had had enough so just rode hard and shredded the guys who wouldn't work together. Ended up 17 out of 23. Very happy even with it being a B race.
Well, my mind isn't into blogging tonight, so everything is rather short and sweet. If you want to hear more details ask me in person, I will be glad to talk about it. Hopefully the next race will be the Swanson MTB race this Saturday. Hopefully I will see some of you out there.
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