Tour de Belleville

It was in the mid to upper 70s and sunny all week long, so guess what happened for this weekend? You got it; at the start of this morning's race, it was in the mid to upper 40s and pouring rain. I haven't raced in so many rain races in one year, ever (and it is still April!). Today wasn't an 'A' race on my schedule and my progressively hard workout schedule my coach has me on had me completely dead, flat and tired. Not a good sign as I line up - cold, wet, and my legs feeling flat. Funny how sometimes this is when you do your best!

I did the 35+ race at the Tour de Belleville race today (it was combined field of 35+ & 45+, but picked separately for different prize list). Interesting course; ~1.5 miles long, up a rise into a 180 turn back down the rise into a 90 degree right, 90 degree left and a 90 degree left ~200m to the finish line. The rise really isn't to my strong points, so I decide to stay at the back and just make sure I'm with anything and any 'splits'. Lucky me it comes down to a sprint finish. 2 Liberty cyclists wind it up and I get behind them. We dive around the last corner and I'm in 3rd (a car had snuck out on the course and we dove inside while the car was on the outside - if that car decided to come inside, it would have been ugly). I pass both Liberty riders with ~100m left and hang on for the WIN. My first win in a couple of years, so it feels nice to cross the line first (especially since I wasn't planning a peak or tapering for this race!). Not knowing who was racing for the 35+ and who was racing for the 45+, it was nice to win the whole thing and there was no question where I finished. I really owe my coach for getting me into the best shape I've been in for years (thanks Jason!!!).

Mike was supposed to come out for his 1st race of the year but there was a mix up with the car rental agency and he didn't make it. I know he could have done well in the masters and probably could have won the Cat 4 race (we really need to get him upgraded to a Cat 3). I opt out of doubling up for the Cat 3/4 race as I was wet and cold and didn't feel like sitting around an hour to it was held.

To celebrate, I cracked open a bottle of North Coast Old Stock Ale. This is their Barley Wine aged in Brandy Barrels and clocks in at over 14% alcohol content. It was very tasty and I wish I had more of these hard to get beers!