More races, and another week

This last week was rather busy for me. I had a longer day on Monday then a race on Wednesday, then a sprint day, then another race on Saturday!! I was going non stop all week. I'm just happy I was able to come out swinging after the sickness.

The race on Wednesday went badly. It started out way slower than we are used to and I just rolled off the front the first lap. That proved to be a bad move because it was too early and none of the big players were represented, so after a half lap I was swallowed by the peloton. Almost instantly we had another guy attack and stay off with one other rider. We did everything we could to keep out teammate off the front and he scooped up four primes before the players blew up field. I ended up being in a really bad spot, right behind a Kenyan, when they turned on the gas and he popped forcing me to use what I had left to close the gap, it never closed. I was done for the day after that.

I was so mad at that Kenyan for being there that I ended up riding another 2.5 hours after we got home, making a 5.5 hour day. I was so mad at him for awhile that I was plotting and scheming to put his season to an early end the next race I saw him. While I was riding, however, I had time to really think about why I was angry, and it really had nothing to do with him. He can't help that he sucks and every time the racing gets hard he pops, like clockwork, I was really mad at me for not pushing his rear to the back. I had already muscled my way past him a few times that race, and I even grabbed his saddle at one point while he was coming in to my line, but that didn't matter. I should have put him into a tree then, but I was too worried about covering moves. It was my own fault for not staying clear of that guy, and that's what I was really mad at.

The next race went better, I finished, 31st. Not a great place, a single placing out of the money, but at least we beat the pants off the National team riders. The weather was great for the race, rainy and cold. I love racing in that kind of stuff. I think I would have placed better, but the guy I had marked as the guy to watch crashed, right in front of me. I almost ran over his head!! There was a corner of cobblestones and for some reason they weren't squaring it up, turning early then hitting the stones straight on. Anyway we hit it hard that lap and sure enough he went down. That split the field and before we could get a chase organized they were gone, without a single rider from the Cycling Center present.

Four of us finished the race 50% from what started. One crash, and three riders popped because of the pace. The speed wasn't the highest we only averaged 40 kph, but the power I had to put out was very high, in fact if you look at that number it was THE hardest race so far. I had to average 220 watts for the entire 2:38 (that includes all the surges that were well above the 800 mark), and that's 10 watts higher than any other race so far. So with that in mind this really was the hardest race so far. I'm happy I finished, but annoyed I didn't make lunch money. Maybe next week.