25 June, 2006

never flat

well it was another early morning. 5 to be exact. after oatmeal it was off the race. we got there and i think i took the worlds longest pee. i think 3 water bottles were stored up. after that i could move again so i quick went and rode the course before the time trail for the people in the "1000 km" (racing series) started. i got here to late to register for the series so not TT. for me. but the course was nice. never flat. always going up or down. it was a 4ish km loop that started high went down a nice hill, up a shortish one, then down again. up another short one. a 180 degree turn. down a bit. then a longer 1 km or a bit more hill back up to the start. the down hills were pretty fast (over 70) and the uphills i found were not to hard, even though still fast.
so we all (170 or so people) lined up for the start and we were off. i was in the top 1/3 for the first 3 or 4 or 18 laps, after that i figured out how the peleton was working. such as where i could get a hole to move up. so the next few laps were spent doing that. then a bunch more laps of dripping sweat. at 5 or so laps to go i was able to hold my position in the first 20 really nicely. just sitting not working to hard, sweating, that kinda thing. i think at 3 laps (because of a sprint) a group of 10 or so had gotten away and i thought they might have a chance. the guys pulling the main group were not catching up. so i took off and got up to the group pretty quick. unfourtunatley i brought the whole field with me. so i sat near the front until the last lap. 2 guys had gotten away again, and it was close enough to the end i thought they might have a chance. so again i attacked to go join them, but yet again the field came with. the two up ahead rapidly came back and i ended up at the front of the train for longer than i wanted. going into the last hill i was still out front and a bit winded from doing so. but it ended up being a sprinters race today. the peleton just did not want to give up any time at all. i finished right behind the sprint, probably around 30th again. right after the race the temp. was 35 degrees or 95 in F. thats pretty dang hot.
on the way home i drank 2 water bottles and a litre of apple juice, then another bottle since ive been home. i havent had to pee yet. so that is how much i sweated.
if my HR monitor was working right today, it says my avg. was 125. that is not very high. so either i was just not working at all. or i am getting into really quite good shape. or both. and the race was not slow either. if it would have been there would have been a successful break. the avg. was 40km/h.

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