Stage 1 - road race
As I previously mentioned I was physically ready for this race. I was on. For 24.5 miles apparently. I still cannot believe how strong some of those racers are. I felt excellent for the first 20 miles, to the point that went to the back of the pack to warn my team member that I planned on dishing out some pain at mile 25. Then the pain came without any of my help. Then "the pain" did what they planned on doing which is to weed out the weak, myself included. At mile 24 there is a serious increase in pitch, which I handled but redlined me, then came a flatter section that I needed to recover in. Unfortunately the group decided to recover for approximately 1.5 seconds then proceeded to punish the flat section. That was it for me. I seriously felt a switch shut my body off. My legs, lungs, heart just turned off and the 10ish people behind me went around me and left. Until that point I was feeling quite comfortable in the top 5-10 of the group. Pop.
My body made me recover so I took a 1/2 mile or so to get myself out of zone 5 and started pacing myself for recovery. After a little while things started working again so I stepped up the pace. I passed the 28 mile feed zone pretty annoyed but feeling ok, then crested the KOM, then started a great descent.
I don't remember if I passed number 305 or if he caught up to me on the descent, but I know I caught up to 311 and another non-cat 4 person. The four of us descended together although the rest of the group just wasnt' up to par, just weren't as crazy as I am downhill.
Then came the flats and the winds. I am *not* the guy to ride with in the wind, yet only 305 was equal or better than me in the flats. The other two were nearly useless. At mile 60 number 305 decided he had enough of our pace and attacked. Nice attack I must say. He waited until I was pulling the group, waited for a significant incline, and sprinted up it. I tried to follow, knowing the other two were too weak, and couldn't since I had been up front doing work. Number 305 had a 15 mile TT to finish. I wasn't worried actually, if he could hold 15 miles in that wind by himself he deserved it.
Now we're down to two of us: me and number 311. The fourth member got popped when 305 attacked, never saw him again. 311 tries to help but can't do much, and by the time mile 69 comes along I start feeling like we need to reel in 305. We're running out of time. 311 does a good job stepping up, and I step up the pace, and we catch 305 with 1-2 miles to go. Then he sucks our wheel, recovers, and outsprints me like I'm standing still. Note to self: learn to sprint. 311 had told me he wasn't going to contest the sprint since I towed him for 40ish miles. That is sportsmanship.
Stage 2 - time trial
As noted earlier I am not the guy for the flats or the winds therefore individual time trials are not so good for me. I am improving though and was able to pull out a 24.1 mph average. 10th place out of 16. My hope was to mitigate my losses and I only slipped one position on the GC after the time trial, which, if I was to lose to someone it may as well be my team mate Ryan. Good enough.I am told that a TT bike can improve my speed by 3 mph, so I just need to spend money and I will automatically beat everyone. Sweeeeeet.
Stage 3 - criterium
The criterium was fun but tough. I actually enjoy that course quite a bit. I was marking 311 the whole time since he had to gain a few seconds on me to take away my 6th place in the GC. He went away from the pack a few laps from the end so I just had to stay ahead of him. I wasn't going to contest for 5th place since that position was occupied by a team mate.
I stuck with the lead group until the final lap then just decided to shut it off when I noticed 311 was nowhere near. I saw Liam on the side of the road pedaling slowly and akwardly. He had attacked at 2 laps to go, was gone, and had a chain problem. He had the race. That really sucks.
Overall
I earned a 6th place overall. I don't know if it is counted as 6th out of 45+ since that many did the road race or 6th out of 16 since that many started the third event, but either way it's decent. Top 5 would have been better but Ryan deserves it due to his superior TT skills. A good race developed between 4th and 7th places, and we created some friendships out of the deal. Decent weekend of racing. Yes, it was THAT hard on me.
