16 July, 2006

a hard weekend

saturday: i love breakaways
we got up to the race area about an hour before the start. it took a while to get the numbers picked up and put on, so after that i had 20 minutes to warm up, 10 of which i adjusted my handelbars since they were not straight. i suck at making them straight. but i got to ride the course a few times which is always good.
Course was basically flat only rise of any significance was the bridges of the river. it was pretty curvy, 6 main corners with not straight straightaways. the finishing straight and the section after an s-turn was into a decent wind. 45 laps totaling 80 km. (a long crit).
at 12:30 the race was off and the pace hot just like the weather. the first 30 minutes or so i was not warmed up and was feeling it a bit, but after the magic 30 min mark i felt wonderful. so around the loop the group went, nobody successful at getting away. it was like this for a good 20 laps or so. everything being determined by sprints. sometime, i think with either 23 laps to go or 21. i heard the bell which means this lap is worth something. i had been slowing moving up for a while, and studying the group the whole time. i found that after the s-turn it was usually a bit strung out, plenty of road space to work with, so at this point i attacked, it was the best attack ive ever had. coming from about 30 people back i got everyone to start screaming and a good gap. it was the perfect place to attack since after 1 sweeping and one sharp corner i had a tailwind till about 300 meters from the line. only 2 others were able to respond enough to be near me, but i kept myself out front and got the preme (15€) the other two who came with and i stayed away for another 3/4 lap or so before being caught. for the next 8 or so laps i recovered, and then around then i responded to an attack which did not go anywhere except to the front. so i sat up about 6 back for 2 laps or so. someone did a weak (i thought), a few of us at the front responded. i thought the field was there and did not bother looking back, a few minutes later i did look back, nothing there. cool. 7 of us had gotten a decent gap. after a few laps of not working together at all we got it kinda down. it just so happened that everyone in front of me was good to go, but the two or 3 behind me were not so strong. everytime i got to the front id be pulling at least twice as long as the others. i was feeling great despite this. eventually it was the last lap and now no one wanted to lead so i tried an attack but because of all the other leading it failed miserably. and i ended up leading everyone out for the sprint and came across in 6th or so. in the end we had over a min. on the field. which was pretty good for that course. during the break i got third in another preme, getting me another 10€. so 25€ total. apparently i did not get any points though, crits anger me sometimes.
Race time: around 1 hr 50
distance: 81
avg: 43.4
after the race, to the youth hostel. did not eat a good dinner (chinese food, chicken fried noodles, i wanted rice.) then there was a fest in the city. i found 20€ on the ground. daily income of 45€. paid for room, race fee, dinner, and a bit of todays fee.

sunday: lesson learned
woke up not feeling really rested as the street below was loud and the matress uncomfortable. then it was bread and that type of thing for breakfast. with last nights dinner my fuel tank was pretty low.
got to the race expect a small hill. nope. crit course of death. a 1.5 km loop that went down, then up. pretty steep too. 45 times. oh shit, was my first reaction. standing on the start line my stomach was very unhappy. the field started at around 90 or so. and immediately it was single file. the first 3 laps i was really struggling. on the 3rd i threw up a little (just a little) and after that i felt much better. except my legs were not feeling super strong. after 10 laps or so 1/4 of the field was gone, another 10, 1/2 field was gone, another 10 3/4 the field pulled. it was insane. i was really struggling to hold on at this point and a bit after that i cracked and slowed. some other guy cracked at the same time. since we could still finish the race we kept a mild pace. i got lapped by the leaders twice. and what was left of the field once. but because i finished i did decently. ha. but it was a hard day. and i have learned my lesson about eating properly before a race, hopefully i dont make that mistake again. i was not to mad about the race, because i knew what was wrong. and i still finished. luckily my teammates all dropped out so i had water boys. instead of 2 water bottles like i drank yesterday, i drank 5...
in the end i did 72.2 km in 2 hrs 8 min. that shows how much harder this course was.

the top bit of the hill.

looking down from the same spot.

sweaty day.

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