Weekend Races

Cherry Blossom (Saturday)

This race was held on the Branch Brook short course. 2.2 mile, dead flat circuit with only one 90 degree turn. Usually tailor made to my racing style.

Not much to say about this race other than I completely blew it. My legs felt a little flat and allowed myself to get in very poor position for the finish. Found myself at the very front with way too far to go in way too much head wind. A shit load of riders passed me at 50m and I must have finished in the top 20. I say must have, because when I checked the results on the Internet the next day, I'm not even listed! Either they got my # wrong and gave my placing to someone else or the camera did not catch me. No big deal, as who really gives a shit about 20th place anyway...

Lower Providence (Sunday)

Four of us line up for the 40+ at the Lower Providence Crit on Sunday (Joe, Walt, Tom, and me). All I can say is this race was all about the wind. The wind must have been blowing steady at 20 mph or greater. It was a cross wind finish with a direct head wind after the first turn.

The plan was to try and get Walt up the road or set up Joe for the sprint. Three riders get off relatively early. We try to bring them back. We actually got pretty close and then they gained more time. Another break gets away from the field and Tom is in it. They get a decent gap on the field so we are content to let them go. We actively cover everything. Both groups stay away. Tom takes 6th on the day.

I decided to take off with 2 laps to go. I'll either hold it (yeah right) or get caught. This will let Joe and Walt do no work in the field and allow them to be fresh for the sprint or allow them to counter. Guess what, I actually held it for 2 laps. That's a first for me. Granted, there was a bunch up the road so the field was probably not too eager to chase anything, but that didn't make the pain any less! Looking at my power file after the race, this is one of my higher power outputs and higher heart rate average in a long time.

When Trish went to check the results, my name wasn't listed. That's 2 days in a row. They had me as 714 when I was 717 and marked as DNF (how can they miss a solo rider coming in between the break and the field!). They fixed today's result (but 2 days in a row, come on!).