Before I get into the race report, I would like to thank Versus for having the Tour Tracker iPhone application. It made the long drive out to Ft Ritchie all the more nice. Pretty cool watching the race in the car on the way to a bike race! If only I could have replicated a little of what I saw at the Tour.
Well I had pretty big ambitions going into the race today. I have been putting in some major training over the last few months combined with some weight loss. (Down 20 lbs from the start of the season). The week prior, I had a good showing at the Haggerstown race, so I was hoping to improve today.
My pre-race routine included watching the new Versus commercial on repeat for about 15 minutes while I was pinning my number.
I was expecting a fast crit course, but when I got to registration they told me they changed the format. It was the old circuit course they ran back in May and the same course I got lapped on last year. Nothing like a little change to spice it up!
The race went out as expected. Pretty fast, but predictable. I didn't get a good warm up in, so my heart rate shot straight up to 170 bpm. Not good at the start. I managed to position myself pretty well in the group for the first half of the race. With about 10 laps to go, I really was put under pressure. I decided looking at the lap cards was a bad idea, so I didn't look until there were 2 laps to go. The speed picked up and I lost all of my position and just tailed the group to the finish.
It was a pretty unimpressive performance. This season has been a tough battle trying to learn my way into bike racing. Every race is a struggle, but I am having fun learning. The next few weeks will be pretty intense. My season objective is approaching Aug 15th in Chicago. I will be racing the Cat 4 race at the Criterium National Championships. I know it's not the pro championship for me, but it's cool racing on the same day on the same course. Kinda like being on the under card at a heavyweight championship boxing match.
Damn I love bike racing!
Adam
