Much to my chagrin, I had no :30 man to chase. He was a no-show and left me all alone. I got off to a decent start--probably a bit too fast, but ok. I settled in and tried to maintain 25 mph and otherwise keep a big gear rolling. I was in a bit of a daze and wondering for a minute if I'd made a wrong turn, when the guy :30 behind me came by with a "On your left" warning. That woke me up and I tried to hold his pace without drafting and I kept focusing on keeping him at a respectable distance. I rode a lot smarter the rest of the way even though my legs were crying uncle. I really wish I would have had a :30 man to chase. I think I would have done much better. Even so, I'm not terribly upset about finishing 31st to lots of guys with TT gear. My time would have put me 11th in the Cat. 4 and likely would have assured me the overall GC place I needed for an upgrade. Instead, I was an also-ran with legs that would be able to do very little in the afternoon criterium.
Jess and I went to Friendly's and pigged out, then headed over to the crit course to watch my teammate, John Larson, in the Cat. 4 race. I had several hours to kill before my race (thankfully) and I spent the time chilling in the shade and polishing up the Javelin. I took it for a bit of a warmup spin and I knew I wouldn't be able to do much in the race. I hate to think like that before a competition, but I don't think I've ever gone into a race feeling so out of gas. My legs burned with each pedal stroke no matter what the gear I was turning.
The course was 1.25 miles with a kicker of a hill at the finish. The start was about 200m from that hill and just after a slightly acute turn. I got to the start line a bit late and found myself about three rows back. My typical horrendous start to clipping in left me near dead last going up the hill on the homestretch. The race was only 9 laps (praise God) and I knew it would be a struggle to hold onto the peloton. Guys were getting shelled early, but I managed to hammer the hill each lap and actually was able to get on the front of the peloton with four laps to go. I led for about a lap there before getting swarmed in a turn that I took too slowly and was never really in contention again. I was happy just to have made it to the front.
I had to laugh at the way I finished up the race. I fell off the back of the peloton by about 100m with a lap to go and I was suffering. But rested enough on the downhill backstretch that I knew I could sprint a bit at the end. So I focused my efforts on picking off one guy who was dangling off the back of the peloton and coming down the homestretch, I left it all out on the course. I blew by him right before the line to finish . . . yep, 34th! Haha. We both laughed when I passed him. All I could say was, "Sorry, man. I had to have something to do back here." It was a fitting end to a weekend of butt-whipping. I certainly know where I stand in the field of strong Cat. 3's: I've got a lot of work to do.
This weekend was more disappointing because I should have been in the Cat. 4 race and finishing off the points I need to become a 3. But it was also disappointing because of how out-gunned I was. I think I was amongst my peers in the RR on Saturday and since that's my thing, I'm happy about that. But in TT's and Crits, I have no skillz. As I said earlier, I'll have time to hone my crit skills in the next two weeks as I plan to race 3 criteriums in my desperate bid for a 5th place finish. Arghh. I need to do well again!! Then I can shut it down, build up my 'cross bike and start having fun again. Perhaps next season, I'll actually come up with a good training plan and not let silly weddings get in the way. ;-)
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