Hills, Wind, Sun and Pain

This weekend was the last of the Greenville training series races. The fields were fairly large again and the weather was amazing. With clear skies and temps in the 70’s I was ready to ride my bike. Saturday’s course suited me well and I as anxious for a result there. It is not often I get to do a race with a hill hard enough to be decisive, but this was my chance. I felt good on the climb during the early laps and bided my time. I attacked before the climb with 1 lap to go but everybody was scared to use any energy other than on the climb. The break I initiated was caught before the climb and it was full gas up the hill. I was feeling my attack a bit but put my head down and went up the climb as hard as I could. When I came across the top there were six or seven leaders about 8 seconds in front of me. I got in the first chase group of eight guys, most of which seemed content to race for eighth or whatever. I was there to race for the win, so I struck out on my own but couldn’t quite close the gap which had grown significantly from the eight seconds on the hill. I hit the bottom of the climb on my own thinking I would at least stay away from the group I was in but about half way up I cracked, hard. My 13th place wasn’t what I was looking for but I played my cards, rode hard and raced for the win so I didn’t come down on myself too hard.

Sunday can be summed up by flat, crazy windy, no corners, no teammates, no result.

So the weekend didn’t yield any upgrade points, just a solid couple days of hard racing that I believe will pay dividends in the weeks to come. Now it’s time to train and focus on next weekend’s crits in Columbia. With work a little light, the first three days of the week are 100% focused on the bike. Maybe it’s just what I need to get my mind and my legs ready. It’s time to make this upgrade happen.

I could go on but the sun is shining and the air is warm, it’s time to spin the legs out and clear the mind for the week to come.