Sunday, April 20, 2008

The total tonnage of what you don't know...

Today's crit was about what I expected. Really hard. With no legs. The only crash bounced off my leg about half way through; apparently three guys tried to squeeze into a one person gap. The last lap ripped my legs off. I hit the final turn in 8th and finished 8th. No one came by me, I didn't get by anyone.

Then after the race, I wander over to see the results from yesterday. I figured I was around 40th, so I start at 50 and move up. I don't see my name until 21st. I was 2:12 off the winner, and 24 seconds off 3rd place. Not as bad as I thought, given the implosion that occurred with 1K to go. But it also lends some further fuel to the 'I wonder what would have happened' rehashing I've been doing since the race ended yesterday.

Then I look for the GC. Turns out I'm 14th, 8 seconds out of the top 10. Top 5 was my goal, but now I get to be annoyed for letting 8 seconds get away from me in the time trial and last minute of a 3.5 hour race.

But for a learning/training race, and my first stage race, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I rode myself into the ground, and I learned a few things. At Mt. Hood, there's not a chance in Hell I'm going up the road solo.

4 comments:

Burrito Eater said...

You are totally going to roll off at Mt Hood solo. The pace will piss you off enough to drive you nuts!

Good job though, sounds fun!

Anonymous said...

No solo moves? DOes that make you pack scum too (the kind we constantly bitch about)? Or is it different 'cause your racing sans team?

Walter Mitty said...

I'm sufficiently delusional to convince myself that, unlike all the other pack scum that just think they can win, I actually can, so it makes sense to sit in a save energy.

Anonymous said...

Isn't that what makes a Cat4 crit dangerous. The guy next to you that thinks he can still win the sprint from 12th wheel, with dying legs, and no ability to stay upright on his own, let alone when he bumps the wheel in front of him?