Fast forward one week. It's Saturday night and I'm at Kate and Roby's. Nichole dozes on the couch.
Not a great race today, and I have no idea why. I rode a bit this week, doing a standard road ride on Weds, and a bit more spirited and intense ride on Thursday, followed by a very easy ride on Friday. But my legs felt sore Friday night, and that had me a bit worried.
The course was in Ione, which is 45 minues away from Sacramento, or to be more precise, it's in a little central valley foothill town in the middle of nowhere, off Hwy 88, where the hicks and mountain folk roam free. By design, the course was very cool. It had a little bit of everything. Starts out paved, two logs for a forced dismount, and then the course winds around some oak groves and a bit on the grassy park area under the trees, even up a small bit of stairs, which is always my favorite cyclocross thing. Later you head down this hill and cross a creek once, twice, yes three times before heading back up the hill towards the start/finish.
To look at it, I'd have said it would be a perfect course for me except for the creek crossings. They were too muddy to ride, but it was definitely slower to run. Either way they were lame.
From the start, I do my thing and get the hole shot. Eric and Jim to /their/ thing, which is to sit on my wheel until I start to slow down a bit, and then attack me. It worked flawlessly at Negro Bar and it worked again when they did it today. Disturbingly, today it happened much earlier in the race, like 1/3 of the way through the first lap. Not sure what was wrong, but I just didn't have it today, either mentally, physically or maybe both. I had concerns about my legs when warming up...I just didn't feel real snappy, but I was hoping it was all in my imagination. Guess not.
And shortly after Jim and Eric passed me, some other guy also got by me. I tried to chase but I just couldn't find the power to bring them back. Slowly, they all rode away from me. Nobody else came close to me, so I had 4th overall locked up, but that's no longer good enough. And I'd later find out that the 3rd guy is 34, so I didn't win the 30+ group either.
Oh well. It's probably a good thing...maybe I needed to be humbled a bit.
I'm baffled as to why I didn't ride well today, but there's not much I can do except drink, eat, rest and recover, and hope that tomorrow I'll have better legs things will go better. And even if that doesn't happen, hopefully I can turn things around for next week's Surf City Round 1.
Not a great race today, and I have no idea why. I rode a bit this week, doing a standard road ride on Weds, and a bit more spirited and intense ride on Thursday, followed by a very easy ride on Friday. But my legs felt sore Friday night, and that had me a bit worried.
The course was in Ione, which is 45 minues away from Sacramento, or to be more precise, it's in a little central valley foothill town in the middle of nowhere, off Hwy 88, where the hicks and mountain folk roam free. By design, the course was very cool. It had a little bit of everything. Starts out paved, two logs for a forced dismount, and then the course winds around some oak groves and a bit on the grassy park area under the trees, even up a small bit of stairs, which is always my favorite cyclocross thing. Later you head down this hill and cross a creek once, twice, yes three times before heading back up the hill towards the start/finish.
To look at it, I'd have said it would be a perfect course for me except for the creek crossings. They were too muddy to ride, but it was definitely slower to run. Either way they were lame.
From the start, I do my thing and get the hole shot. Eric and Jim to /their/ thing, which is to sit on my wheel until I start to slow down a bit, and then attack me. It worked flawlessly at Negro Bar and it worked again when they did it today. Disturbingly, today it happened much earlier in the race, like 1/3 of the way through the first lap. Not sure what was wrong, but I just didn't have it today, either mentally, physically or maybe both. I had concerns about my legs when warming up...I just didn't feel real snappy, but I was hoping it was all in my imagination. Guess not.
And shortly after Jim and Eric passed me, some other guy also got by me. I tried to chase but I just couldn't find the power to bring them back. Slowly, they all rode away from me. Nobody else came close to me, so I had 4th overall locked up, but that's no longer good enough. And I'd later find out that the 3rd guy is 34, so I didn't win the 30+ group either.
Oh well. It's probably a good thing...maybe I needed to be humbled a bit.
I'm baffled as to why I didn't ride well today, but there's not much I can do except drink, eat, rest and recover, and hope that tomorrow I'll have better legs things will go better. And even if that doesn't happen, hopefully I can turn things around for next week's Surf City Round 1.
posted by the seamus at 10:39 PM
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