Race Update

Been doing some early season racing in Ohio for the 1st time in a long time. My training has been pretty limited due to the weather here but I figured I would head out racing anyway.

My 1st race of the year was a bit of a crazy one. I decided to head out and race even though it was 30 degrees and snowing out. The race was only about 20 minutes away from my house so I figured what the hell. A flat 6 mile circuit, was still pretty tough with the 30 mph winds. I showed up about 20 minutes before race time (standard) fully loaded with about 4 cups of coffee in me... threw on all the clothing I owned and headed out to race. About 3 miles in Kirk Albers threw in a little attack and I countered and all the sudden was by myself. Scott Moro from Bikesource jumped across to me and we were 2. Another mile or so Kirk came back across and that was pretty much the race. The field kept us close for a lap but after that we rode away. With about 5km to go I started the attacking but just couldn't go hard enough to split the break. After a few tries I said oh well, I will just sprint this one out. The 3 of us slowed to about 5 mph for the last mile just kinda laughing at each other. Kirk opened the sprint up and I jumped around to take my 1st win of the season. GOOD START! 1 for 1.

This past weekends racing didn't go as hot for me as last weekend. Saturday was 3 laps of a 20 mile circuit that had 2 climbs a lap. 1 super steap 1km climb (Jack Run for those who know) and then another 1 mile climb up to the finish line... right up my alley.. throw in that is was 40 degrees and raining and that pretty much tops off the tri-fecta of things I hate the most... hills, cold, and rain. Wanna kick my dog while your here??? needless to say I gave it my all and stayed with the leaders until 1 lap to go when 3 guys got away. I tried attacking but never got anywhere and crawled my way to 7th place. I was completely wrecked after this 60 mile race...way to much climbing for me....
Sunday we traveled to Oxford where my teamate Ryan lives. A pretty stacked field with a strong Roadhouse team and Priority Health team there. We had 5 guys as well so it was a pretty aggressive race. I absolutely had no legs from the get go but tried to work my way into the race. In the end I read the break correct but my legs gave out on me and I couldn't get across. A&F had 2 guys in the break of 6 so we were good to go. The break stayed away with Ryan getting 4th and I limped in after bonking like crazy with 10 miles to go in 15th. We had to ride another 10 miles back to ryans and all I could think about was M&Ms. I truly have not bonked that bad in like 8 years...

Well a good weekend for the fitness I hope and I'll give it a go again next weekend. Hopefully the weather gets a bit nicer... till then... m@

A&F had a great weekend racing down south.. check out the update here