the bottom step.

last night i realized that i am only here once for the world cup. i was going to just watch the game nearby but decided to go downtown with some others. it was insane down there. so many people. faces paint, flags, beer. some tables had their own private kegs. the game was not very interesting untill the last 5 minutes. everyone seemed down before that time, but then germany started getting some good chances. and within the last minute score. everyone went completely nuts for a good 5 minutes. then of course the game was over and germany had won. so the parties began. i however went home to bed for i had to get up at 6.
this morning as i was rolling out to meet the others i still heard a party i think. it was 7:15...
anyways. Singen is where the race was. 30 km from here. so we just rode our bikes. an hour 15 minute warmup...i was not sure whether i would benefit from that or not.
got there, rode the course, it was fairly flat. the main drag was about 400 or 500 meters or so, slightly uphill. but hardly noticeable. then 100 meters after then finish a right. then another soon after. then a short straight. then a right. then a left then two rights. 1.3 or so km total. today was a 35 lap crit.
at a bit after 9:30 we were off. and of course i was stuck at the back for the first 5 laps or so, eventually i moved up. feeling decent the whole time. eventually i made it into the middle of the pack (35ish i think) and just hung out there for awhile. with 18 laps to go i was feeling good, and on the back straight away a hole opened up in front of me and i took off. i was hoping to hold my lead for a few laps, so i could get the points from the sprint (every 5 laps), but got caught by the sprinters when it mattered. oh well. after that little excursion i just mixed in with the pack again. even though the speed was around 50 km/h nearly the whole time i was simply not tired. not even breathing hard in fact. just sitting. i tried moving up for a sprint, but im no sprinter, so no luck. then lap 5 (after the lap sprint) came around. i was right near the front, or must have been. some guy attacked and i being right there took off as well. to my extrodinary luck, the 3 other team mates of mine happened to be in the front with me. they saw me go and apparently blocked (i was told so afterward), and it worked quite well. this all occured somewhere on the back stretch. me and the other guy had gotten a decent gap and started working together. since he was the first to go out i had been on his wheel for a bit, then i took over for a while, then him. this worked well until finishing up the 3 to go lap. he was either pretending to hurt or was hurting, cause everytime he took the lead we slowed 4 km/h. so in the last 2.5 laps he led not much more than 500 meters. which i guess was just fine. i still had plenty of gas left so i just kept on pedaling. at about this same time, i realized we were going to succeed so that gave me a bit of energy too. as we came around the corner for the finish he tried to make a move, but i was just feeling to good, and he never made it in front of me. i just pushed it all the way home and ended up a good 10 meters in front of him at the end. and man o man does it feel good to cross the line first.
unfourtunatley since it was a crit. simply finishing first does not mean first place. i scored 10 points with the finish. as i was packing up the awards cerimonie started. and the kid that seems to always win crits won, with the guy i was in the break with second. and i got the bottom step. flowers, and 30€.
but im happy, i now know i can break away and keep it. so hopefully i can do that in a road race.
my avg HR was only 137 that is not high at all. and my max was 192. and this race was faster than all the other races so far i think. 45 km in pretty close to exactly an hour. a good sign of progress i hope!


there were lots of people taking photos, so when i find them. ill post em.