Bike
Comments: http://www.strava.com/activities/261819816 The race started off with a spirited effort of about 480-500W that settled down pretty quickly with the first turn. At this point I was sitting at 3rd in the line, which I've been told is a good place to sit. After the first turn the lead rider made an attack that I followed suit with that created a break of about 5 of us. The second lap I spent trying to rotate back, but the group seemed content with riding my wheel. Eventually I sandbagged enough to where I was able to get back to my teammate and told him I think I can do this. I just don't think he knew what "this" meant. For the next two laps I rode with the pack, but on the 4th lap I did a rather spirited sprint to see how the guys reacted. After I soft pedaled the strongest of the other riders bridged the group back, but it looked like it took a bit of effort for him. The next lap I decided to attack hard and hold it to break away. This is the point where my HR went from averaging around 174 to 185. After I hit the second turn of this lap I could see that I had a decent gap over the group. I began to mentally prepare myself: "This is it. If You hold this, then you win. You're just going to have to hurt for a long time." I let my body settle into a rhythm of head down on the straights getting aero and pedaling hard, turn, turn, sprint, repeat. I kept telling myself that if it's hurting me, then it's hurting them. I think it was my 7th lap when I was told by one of my teammates watching that I had about a 30 seconds lead over the pack. I pushed harder, and the lead jumped to 57 seconds. With my last two laps I shifted to a more defensive pace, but it seemed like I had the race under control. When I heard the final lap bell I dug for half of the last lap, and after the second turn I could see the pack on the other side at an equal distance. I began to ease my effort up and take in the fact that I just won my first road race. After I finished I waited to watch my teammate take 3rd in the pack sprint. It was a great race for both of us. What would you do differently?: What I did was a very risky move. I very likely could have waited longer to do a similar attack, but you never know what will happen later on in the race. It felt like a good time to go, so I went. Post race
Warm down: Watched my teammate finish, and then we soft pedaled a few laps. It was awesome for both of us to podium. What limited your ability to perform faster: Nothing really. I trained hard for this, and I was ready. Event comments: Good practice crit for those who don't have their handling super dialed in. The long straightaways played to my strength. Last updated: 2015-03-02 12:00 AM
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United States
46F / 8C
Overcast
Overall Rank = 1/10
Age Group = CAT 5
Age Group Rank = 1/10
Rested after the TT in the morning, ate lunch, and headed to the site.
Rode the loop a few times to get a handle of how fast I could turn with the roads still being pretty wet. After that it was time to get ready.