Back on Form

My next cycling race went much better. I rode my bike to work four days in a row before the race so I was able to tighten up my muscles and lose a bit of weight. Going into the race, I felt like I had good form and that I could be much more of a factor. The race was an eleven mile loop with a long two mile climb two miles into the race. This is the type of race that works very well for me.

I lined up in the front to I could be one of the first to the hill and I could tuck under the shoulder of the riders on my left. There were some difficult winds blowing in our faces along the start/finish, and a bit before and after. The first two miles to the hill where open and allowed the wind to sweep quickly from our left. The first time up the hill, my legs felt good, a bit sluggish, but without any fatigue the first time up the hill. Our group dropped a few riders, but the lead stayed in tact without too much effort. The rest of the loop was just a tour around the country side. Second time, I wanted to have a more even pace, rather than the yo-yo riding of acceleration and deceleration of the first climb, so I moved to the front of the peloton and spun up the hill smoothly with some other riders moved past. My smooth climbing quickly subdued the other riders and no one launched off the front. After the top of the climb, our group was lighter, but still strong. At the top, a rider took off and put in a good solo effort. I monitored his progress and decided that a good chase was not needed since he still had another thirty miles to ride on his own until the finish. I thought this would be helpful to tire the rider while a group of ten rode together behind him. The third climb broke up the group a little more. The group split into several groups of two to three by the top. Three of these groups came together after the top into a chasing group of seven. At the end of the third loop, we caught the breakaway rider. We was in good spirits. He talked that he thought he could get away with the good lead he had, but we closed the gap quickly as he tired a bit. Going into the final climb, we were eight strong. By the top, we were ones and twos. I reached the top alone and just behind my Brone's Bike Shop teammate Garrett Ping. We quickly teamed up and worked together to catch another rider ahead and tried to catch the two riders in the lead. We managed to catch the lone rider ahead, but could not catch the other two, which included the rider who broke away (so much for my strategy). Coming into the finish, we were playing cat and mouse, trying to sprint away from the others without another rider ending up on our wheel. I finally made a jump near the end to cross in third, but because I crossed over the yellow line (due to an incomplete understanding of the rules), I was relegated to fifth, slightly disappointed, but please with my overall finish (and in the money).

I was a good race. All the long climbing suited my abilities well, and I feel like I am back on form. The rest of my cycling summer should work out well.