Surf City Round 2. Good news.
So, after discussing things with my coach, we decided that Sunday's race was indication that I needed a little rest. So I spent the next five days basically riding along the coast at a coffee shop pace. I must admit, I enjoyed this. I also felt a little better about stuff. In my mind, Pilarcitos Round 2 was the darkest moment of the season so far, and I'd come through far stronger than I'd expected.
For Surf City Round 2, I was a bit more optimistic but just as nervous. Between the heat and some weird eating I felt borderline nauseous during my warmup. It helped that before staging, I talked to my fellow racers, kids like Mack Chew, Nick Hanni, Pederson, and Mau, and we ALL suffer the same pre-race nerves. We all hear that little voice in our heads, whispering "why are you doing this? This sucks..." Somehow that made it easier to bear, knowing I'm not alone in that. Also making it easier was the new Rock Lobster Scandium GX2 frame in team green and my new Rock Lobster team long sleeve skin suit. I feel like a badass, even if I don't deserve to.
I get my call up, and we go off. Boom, me and Robert and Jordi and the rest of the front runners go tearing off a sketchy, sand-and-gravel stretch before hitting a short climb onto pavement winding around Soquel High School. At the top, Rob and co. seem to stall for a minute, and I drill it. I rip through the top section of the course, through the winding bits in the quad area, back to the straightaway in the expo area. Leading and feeling strong. I hop the curb into the trees and head towards the sketchy, loose and root-filled off-camber lefty down towards the tennis courts, but instead of making the right and dropping in, I go STRAIGHT INTO THE COURSE TAPE. For no good reason. And the 10 riders chasing me go right past. I unclip and place myself at the top of the section and ride down.
Just like that, I go from leading to chasing.
Fortunately I had legs, and the course, a mostly flat, wide-open but quite bumpy affair, seems to suit me. Not long and I catch the back of the group. Jordi lets me by, and then I drop him. Mack and I duke it out a bit. I'm on Dave Samples wheel when some Easton Specialized guy crashes in front of us. Dave gets by but I didn't, and the Easton guy later drops me. The race goes on. Eventually, Mack catches me with 2 to go and sits on my wheel. I attack the crap out of him, I can get a few bike lenghts on him but I can't shake him anywhere except for the bumpy sections, but he keeps coming back. I screw up and miss the line again on another technical section, but I get back on course before Mack catches me. Final lap, Mack is close enough to make it interesting, but I sprint and take 4th. My best Bay Area finish to date.
I hang out with the Lapierre guys and do feeds for my Rock Lobster teammate Ben Dodge. It's a good day.
So, after discussing things with my coach, we decided that Sunday's race was indication that I needed a little rest. So I spent the next five days basically riding along the coast at a coffee shop pace. I must admit, I enjoyed this. I also felt a little better about stuff. In my mind, Pilarcitos Round 2 was the darkest moment of the season so far, and I'd come through far stronger than I'd expected.
For Surf City Round 2, I was a bit more optimistic but just as nervous. Between the heat and some weird eating I felt borderline nauseous during my warmup. It helped that before staging, I talked to my fellow racers, kids like Mack Chew, Nick Hanni, Pederson, and Mau, and we ALL suffer the same pre-race nerves. We all hear that little voice in our heads, whispering "why are you doing this? This sucks..." Somehow that made it easier to bear, knowing I'm not alone in that. Also making it easier was the new Rock Lobster Scandium GX2 frame in team green and my new Rock Lobster team long sleeve skin suit. I feel like a badass, even if I don't deserve to.
I get my call up, and we go off. Boom, me and Robert and Jordi and the rest of the front runners go tearing off a sketchy, sand-and-gravel stretch before hitting a short climb onto pavement winding around Soquel High School. At the top, Rob and co. seem to stall for a minute, and I drill it. I rip through the top section of the course, through the winding bits in the quad area, back to the straightaway in the expo area. Leading and feeling strong. I hop the curb into the trees and head towards the sketchy, loose and root-filled off-camber lefty down towards the tennis courts, but instead of making the right and dropping in, I go STRAIGHT INTO THE COURSE TAPE. For no good reason. And the 10 riders chasing me go right past. I unclip and place myself at the top of the section and ride down.
Just like that, I go from leading to chasing.
Fortunately I had legs, and the course, a mostly flat, wide-open but quite bumpy affair, seems to suit me. Not long and I catch the back of the group. Jordi lets me by, and then I drop him. Mack and I duke it out a bit. I'm on Dave Samples wheel when some Easton Specialized guy crashes in front of us. Dave gets by but I didn't, and the Easton guy later drops me. The race goes on. Eventually, Mack catches me with 2 to go and sits on my wheel. I attack the crap out of him, I can get a few bike lenghts on him but I can't shake him anywhere except for the bumpy sections, but he keeps coming back. I screw up and miss the line again on another technical section, but I get back on course before Mack catches me. Final lap, Mack is close enough to make it interesting, but I sprint and take 4th. My best Bay Area finish to date.
I hang out with the Lapierre guys and do feeds for my Rock Lobster teammate Ben Dodge. It's a good day.
posted by the seamus at 11:40 AM
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