The Hardest Day

Yesterday I had the privelege to race in a UCI 1.2. Since most of you don't know what that means I'll break it down real fast. The first number means a sigle day or multi day event (1 being a single day, 2 being multi day). The second number is the difficulty level (12 being all ameteur, 1 or HC being pro tour). With this being a 1.2 that means it's a pro-am, out of 30 teams present, only 8 were full on ameteur. This was going to be a hard day.

As we rolled up, I saw team cars from all the big names. Prodictor/Lotto, Gerolsteiner, Landbowcreditdiet-Colnago, Chacolat-Jacques, Unibet, etc. Granted these are not there Pro tour squads, they are not allowed to enter these races, but they do fund a continental pro team and that's who came out. It was so strange knowing that we're about to race against these guys and these are the guys that are going to be on the pro tour in a couple of years.

The racing was hard. I'm not going to type out a long play by play, if you want to see that let me know and I'll send it to you. I will say this, however, these guys can ride. The first hour averaged just shy of 47 kph. I threw up after the first lap, my HR was so high. I was able to stay with it for 115 km of 187 (yes a very long day). For those that don't know kms, 162 is a hundred miles. I lasted about 72 of 115 miles (give or take). I just couldn't go that hard anymore. I saw the peloton inching away with me in my 53x11 and at 100 rpm, at that point what am I going to do. I couldn't dig any deeper at that point. All I needed was it to slow down for a minute and let me reposition myself. Anyway, like I said, I 'm not going to get into that. Let me know if you want that report.

Mentally I'm good. I saw where the bar is, and I know what I need to do to get there. I may not be able to achieve that this year, but next year I can do it. My winter training is going to have to be different as my endurance is not where it needs to be for those types of races. My goal for this season is to finish a UCI 1.2, and to place at a kermese (top 10) before I leave. I know I can do it, I just need my body to catch up to where my mind is. That is the most frustrating part of all this. I'm not down and out, I'm just lacking the physical side, which is very fixable.

Thanks everyone for your support. I can't believe it's already been 5 weeks. I'm a third of the way done with this!! It's moved so fast, it crazy. Before you know it I'll be home again to NC and ripping up the local scene all over again.