More crit-ing

Did some more crit racing this Sunday- drove up to Valencia to do the Chuck Pointus crit, where they had a 3 and a 123, so I signed up for both in order to fully enjoy the 90 degree weather....

First race was just Ted and I, so we didn't have a big team plan going in- just possibly follow any big splits, and then see what the sprint looked like if we were all together. Ted went off in a promising move for a bunch of laps early on, with an enigma that became known as "bearded dude" because he had a massive beard- clever. They came back maybe about midway through the race, and a little while longer there was a solo guy who had taken off for a prime and continued on with his effort.... about 3/4 of a straightaway ahead.... he looked like he was holding a good strong tempo, so I figured, what the hell, and dug in hard for about a lap and a half to catch him. Once up there, we worked real well together... though he always made me pull on the uphill windy section... douchebag. I thought we were golden...15 or so mins left.... and then two more came across, but before they were able to recover and help drive the move, we were swallowed up. Got caught with about 4 laps to go. I figured I didn't have a good leadout in my legs for Ted, so after watching Andy Schleck try to set things up earlier that day in Leige by attacking, I followed suit, and right when we got caught countered... umm.. myself. So I was only out for about half a lap before I died.... but all I wanted was to make a few guys jump and work to get to me... and I think they did. The sprint turned out to be real slow, which made it relatively unsafe, and Ted wasn't able to navigate the traffic furniture of a field to pull down a good result, but was still around top 10ish, while I just rolled in with the back of the field. I think you can see everything from this HR plot:Pretty clear when I was in the break...

The "anomaly" HR spike up to 205 was real I think- I had some real weird heart rhythms for about half a lap...and I was about to pull out and dunk myself in some water. I think it was due to the heat and some dehydration- I used to get them pretty bad when I was younger. Hopefully that is not a recurring theme.

The 123 race was just pure pain. Freeking hard the whole time. I never saw the front. I made it until the lap cards were put out, then slipped off the back and watched as one of our foreign recruit riders (I think a kiwi) attacked the break and soloed the last lap for a sweet looking victory- props.