Saturday:
Road Race:
I was feeling pretty good all day in the field. Much much more comfortable than last year when I got shelled out of the 3/4 field on the first climb of the first lap. This time I used the climb to move up in position, and kept my ground for most of the course, usually loosing a little bit in the beginnings of a windy section. On the 4th time up the climb we caught the remnants of the women's race, which made things really complicated. I was chugging along on the climb, surrounded by people as usual, when I realized that me and the few guys around me had gotten dropped, and were surrounded by girls. Now usually this wouldn't bother me, but right then I wasn't in the mood for that sort of thing. Not a huge deal, did a little bit more work than I would have liked, but made the gap up relatively easily. Had to chase back on at the same spot on the final lap as well, but that was due to my loosing contact with the first 10 over the climb. So it all regroups, and a pretty large group of about 40 guys is heading into the finishing uphill section, not even a climb. Well I heard a crash behind me, and was happy to be in front of it... but the next crash that took up the entire width of the road was in front of me, and I couldn't quite get around it in time. Had to unclip, cyclocross over some poor bastard with half a face, and finished out of the points. I was feeling good and ready to put the hammer down on the last 300m too... I was only like 6 or 7 guys back. Oh well. No points.
Sunday:
Time Trial:
I thought I would be the only disc wheel fully aeroed out geek in the 4 field, but oh was I wrong. There were some funky stuff out for the 4's, and some other strong TT'ers, which I didn't expect. I finished up 3rd, about 20 seconds off the pace. I think this is a good sign still though. Even though last year I would have won the 4s by a good minute and a quarter. I'm still working on my position, I can get a little lower, and I don't feel as comfortable spinning up hills in my position now as I did last year... I'll be ready to fly by collegiate TT time. So... got some points.
My arms look really high right? Don't worry, I already bought an adjustable stem.
Crit:
I was pretty happy to be sitting top 10 after only scoring in the TT, thanks to the fact that the people who scored in the road race couldn't TT very well. With a good finish, I'd be able to get some GC money. Got a great start, and was 3rd wheel the whole time around the first lap. The first two guys kept switching, and trying to get me to come through, but I just sat on... I'm not going to pull on the first lap numbnuts. Well they both crashed out... first and second guys through the last turn on the first lap.
suckers. I stayed at the front as much as I could during the whole race. I felt pretty crappy in parts, letting some gaps go, but was lucky enough to always have someone next to me that was willing to close it down, and I was able to recover. The junior Polish kid took off with a few laps to go- I didn't even see him go. I just noticed that the kid who looked like was getting lapped had the pace car in front of him for a whole lap... hmmm. I moved up on the technical part on the backside, and was in a pretty good spot for the last turn. I took it pretty far inside, and started my sprint from a ways back. My legs felt much better than I anticipated and I took about 10 or 15 guys in that last uphill straight to get 6th.
Those placings on Sunday were good enough for 4th overall. Look out GMSR! You best be careful for the kid with the big quads going backwards fast on the hills, don't get caught behind me.
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