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May 11, 2005
Opus IV
After missing Opus III I was excited to get back to racing yesterday. I was dragging a bit going into the race, as Grace has definitely changed my sleep habits from about 8 hours of sleep to 5 - 6 hours of sleep. Eitherway, I was excited to get racing. My goal was to place in a sprint and try to win the overall points.
There were about 35 guys yesterday in the cat 4/5 race and there seemed to be a few more teams out there and some younger riders. As usual I started at the front of the pack and sat behind another rider for the first lap. A few more people moved up to join us, but no one was in a hurry to push the pace. As we neared the 3rd lap and the sprint bell rang, a few guys tried to push the pace and escape off the front.
I knew from watching Keith Bianchi win that if you head out to the outside right just before the final climb to the finish line you will have an open path to go for it. So as we rounded the corner coming up to that hill, I moved right, clicked down and laid it out on the line.
I have never felt a longer 300 meters in my life. I pushed it as hard as I could up that hill, I was out in front, my legs were burning, and just before the line I felt them start to freeze up. However, I held off the pack and won the first sprint by a 1/4 of a wheel.
The only problem was I was not able to recover from the sprint. My legs were full of acid and my lungs were burning. I think there are two reasons I could not recover, first I went about 50 meters too early and I should have found a lead out guy. Second between my lack of sleep and the hard run I had done the day before my legs/body were zapped.
The rest of the race I rode pretty much in the pack. The second sprint, as we were coming up the hill there was a crash of a couple of guys to my left. I tend to have a habit of being just outside the crash zone which makes me feel that my nine-lives are slowly being used up. After seeing the crash, my attention was not on the sprint and I sat it out. Eitherway, my legs were too sore to try.
The last lap sprint, I tried to move up. I was too far back from the front and did not have a good lead out. I realized about a 1/3 of the way into the sprint that I had no chance. So I pulled out of the line of traffic and rolled across the line.
I got 3 points and placed 6th overall. I really can't say that I was satisfied because by winning the first sprint, I realized I can win the overall. Not having the energy to give it my all the rest of the race really just pissed me off. I did accomplish my goal of winning one sprint, but I came into the race thinking I could win it.
Posted by kermisch at May 11, 2005 8:41 AM