Trail by Fire

Both Redlands and San Dimas are proving to be character building races. These are some of the hardest races I've ever raced and its proving to be a lesson in how to get your ass kicked.

Simple mistakes prove to be the difference between finishing well and simply falling off the back. If you find yourself out in the wind, or try to gain position the wrong way of simply don't fight for the wheel infront of you, you find yourself off the back. For me the past 2 weeks have been a trial by fire into the world of Pro road racing. Its definitely been building my character as I'm basically getting my ass kicked.

Every day I've been riding until my legs simply don't work anymore. I throw myself into the gutter of what my body can hold and basically stay there. The thing about it is that its not that I'm out of shape, I just need to learn when to use energy effectively, and when to hold back, and let someone else to the work.

The time trial at Redlands was interesting. Another uphill TT of around 6km or something. I hopped on the new TT bike and gave it as hard as I could....which wasn't ideal...hah.

In the first 3 minutes I caught my 30 second man, but in the last part of the stage, which was 2km of climbing, some at 13% I simply hit the wall. Literally I guess.

I should have conserved a little bit more as I hit the wall with the 44x26(smalled ring) and blew up. And my 30 second man, re-passed me. I rode the bastard like my single speed pulling so hard on the bars I unraveled the bar tape. In the end I had a pretty crap time.

The road race proved to be pretty difficult as well. Some steep climbing, but the wind was the MAJOR factor. In a number of stretches the pack was overspun(no more gears to shift down to) and I was getting passed going 75-80km/h spinning my gear at 120RPM. Here is where pack positioning was key and I got caught out in a couple places wasting energy before the climb. In parts the pack would be riding going about 15-20km/h because the then headwind was so strong.

After that we hit the climb. I made it up fine 2 of the 4 times, but in the last part of the race I dropped back to grab a bottle from the feed zone and had difficulty getting back to the front before the attack. BAM. Dropped on that climb.

I rode the last lap with a small group and came in 10 minutes down. Its little decisions and bad moves that make the race.

Today was the Crit. It was my second Crit of the year and proved to be the fastest of my life I think. It was aggressive, super technical, and decently sketchy. 150 guys rammed through the corners and I told myself if I could hold on for 20 minutes, then I could finish the race. I rode my heart out for an hour and ten minutes, but then just couldn't close the gap, and fell off the back, 20 minutes before the finish. I was simply spent. I couldn't pedal anymore. I finished covered in dirt and road grime(from being at the back on of the pack) with my own snot and spit dried all over my face and legs.

Again, the problem isn't that I'm out of shape(overtrained probably)its that I waste too much energy being at the back of the pack, where I should be at the front sitting in the slipstream. I was up there for the Crit on and off, but I just didn't fight for the wheel aggressively enough and in the end dropped back and paid for it.

The team is doing pretty well. Even Elkin our coach/old guy/ super strong rider got 9th today in the Crit and is riding a good race. There are a humps in the road with all of us, but for the whole the team is doing pretty well for jumping into one of the toughest races of the year. The NZL guys are riding great.

Tomorrow is a pretty insane stage. It will probably be the toughest race of my life as its pretty much all climbing. We go up a pretty serious climb 12 times, for 150ish km. What I'm telling myself now is to simply try to stay in the first part of the bunch, save energy where ever I can, and be aggressive in staying toward the front.

From there we go up to Portland....and my new home. Its 17 hours of driving, and I have the choice of doing it straight through, leave after the race and arrive Monday morning, or go slack and arrive on Wednesday. From there we have another stage race in Oregon on the weekend.