Hmmmm

Not sure what to call this post. Just another race report with some other things.

There was a long road race out in Deer Trail on Saturday that I wanted to do, but after a long week at work and a long Friday at work, I decided a good nights sleep was a better plan. The race venue was about an hours drive, and with a 8:45 start time, I decided to bag it. I went out for a moderate paced road ride instead. I got in about 3 hours.

Today was another crit at Stazio. Can't beat those at $15 a pop. I'll start with the drive out. I was on 36 (not THE 36. I'm not in Cali.), which is the highway from Denver to Boulder. I was cruising along at a solid speed in the right hand line when another Subaru wagon comes flying by me in the fast lane. I'm guessing she was going about 90. Well, she had a lovely little "PEACE" bumper sticker on her car. There was a pickem up truck pulling a trailer in the fast lane too. He should have been in the slow lane, but Ms. PEACE flys up on his ass and tailgates him. Mr. Pickem Up doesn't get over, so Ms. PEACE goes around him in the right lane and does the ol cut him off short. Cracks me up. I guess she temporarily thought her bumper sticker said "INSTIGATE." Typical neo-hippie from Boulder kind of crap. Do as what is the recent cool thing to do, not as I do. No offense to you other Boulderites.

So, I'll keep the race report short. After racing the 3s last weekend (I got shelled. I need to learn how to stay out of the wind), I can definitely tell the difference in the skill level. A lot of the 4s can't ride a straight line to save their lives. A few them like to come straight across wheels right to their side. I peeled of to the side of the group a few times today because of what looked like a potential accidents in the making.

The legs felt decent today, and I had decided after the first crit I did this year, I was going to attack a couple of times in the remaining crits. Especially at the Stazio ones because of the nice little hill in the course. With 7 laps to go, I decided to attack going over the top of the hill, but I got stuck inside the group where I couldn't really make a move. Eventually we were down to 5 laps and a couple of guys were pushing the pace up the hill. I found myself in a good position to go, so I powered it over the top. I got a decent gap, but when things flatten out, my power isn't quite as good. I got caught at the finish line right before the turn back up the hill. Again guys were pushing the pace up the hill, but I was a little tired. I figured the rest of the group had wound it up a little to catch up to me and maybe were suffering up the hill too. I said to hell with it and attacked again. Same thing. Got a decent gap only to be caught at around the finish line again. Damn the guys going for the primes (Prime: An award given for the rider to reach a certain point mid-race in a sprint. Pronounced "preem." French.) It was only Go Fast fellas. By that point, I think I had decided that I had waited too long to attack, so I just sat in. On 2 (or maybe 3) laps to go, I hear a loud POW behind me and look back to see a guy and his bike in the air parallel to the ground. I'm guessing he didn't land upright because I heard a few crunching sounds after that. 4 or 5 guys in front of the wreck attacked after that. I don't know what I think of that, but I kind of maintained my pace and stayed with them. I may have accelerated a bit to stay with them. By the last lap there were about 20 or so guys back together anyway. So it's a bunch of guys coming into the last turn which opens up into a very flat straightaway with about 300-400 meters to the finish. I'm on the left side and I see a fairly big fellow in front of me. I'm thinking, "sweet, I'll sit on his wheel to get a good draft for the sprint." Well the big guy never really opens it up. I see the kid from the Roubaix open it up and get away. I start to go, then I see big Steve put on a massive acceleration and he flys by the kid. I'm going, but I don't see anyway of catching the kid or Steve. I was hurting like hell, but then,I saw 2 wheels out of the corner of my right eye. That made me dig a little deeper and I was able to hold them off for another 3rd place.

So this time I had the confidence in my legs, but I still missed out. I was afraid of going too soon on the sprint. I guess I'm still learning this road thing. I guess you need to learn who to get behind, but sometimes you don't have too much choice in the matter. I'm sad to report that there was no 6 pack of beer as a prize this time.

After the race, I decided I needed to get some more climbing in my legs to get ready for my season (mountain biking), so I headed over to Flagstaff. I forgot how steep that fucker is. It starts steep and gets steeper. I think the last time I did it was on my mountain bike for the Super Walker loop a couple of years ago. The grades weren't kind to me on the road bike, and I was running a 39x27. I resisted the temptation to do switchbacks across the road at it's steepest parts.

I've got another little story to tell, but this is a pretty long post as it is. Maybe I'll post it during the week. Check out the pics below.