That Familiar Burn: Something worth writing about.

This weekend the racing finally was on again. There has been a couple week pause, and I was not happy. I enjoy racing to much.
Anyways the races were in conjunction with the Nature Valley Grand Prix. Which made it even more fun then normal.

Saturday:
Ill start with my race.
I rolled on down to Mankato for a 2/3 crit. I knew it was not going to be that great of a day, when I woke up that morning my legs were tired. Not good at all. After arriving in Mankato I registered, while doing so I met a guy who just graduated from DU out in Colorado. He was at nationals and all as well. Raced D II also. So We went to preview the course. The line was at the bottom of a pretty big hill. I thought we might go up it, so up we went. About halfway up the "death cramps" came on. Today was going to be painful. Up we went then following the hay bales we found our way back to the start. It was a really long circuit, far to long for a crit. We found out soon after that we in fact did not go up (nuts) but stayed down in the flat downtown.
After that I went and warmed up. I found some flat and put the pace up to try and work out the cramps. It worked a bit, but not enough.
It was soon time to start. It was a big field, 50 some I think. So off we went, and it was sketchy right from the start. I almost got taken out on one of the first few corners. I went to the front for a bit, but then started to cramp. I could not do much so I slowly drifted back. I may have gotten to the front a few times in there, but was not nearly my normal self. Then a bit more into the race I started to get normal racing cramps. Not because I was dehyrdated, but because I drank to much plain water and flushed all the electrolytes out of my system. Oops.
Anyway, as is apparent was not very fun. Eventually it came down to the last laps, I managed to get a good position on the long straightaway and hold it through the final corner. And despite feeling like crap I got 10th and $15, which made for a free race.
After the race I ate 4 or 5 packs of Jelly Belly sport beans, I felt much better. Thanks Jelly Belly!
Not long after finishing the pro men came into the circuits. They went up the big hill 4 times. I just watched at the line.
It was fun to watch them fly through the line area.

Next came the pro women, including the current World Champion Kristin Armstrong. She just lit everyone up on the first lap, and extended her lead each time.

Sunday:
After a good meal and bed thanks to Jennie and her family I was ready to rock and roll this morning. I have always heard about the infamous Stillwater Crit, but I had never experienced it. I got to the course nice and early, one of the first racers even. I got ready and took off on a long warm up. I was going to need it since the race started at the bottom of the big climb (22% for about 40 seconds at race pace). Not long but steep! After a nice 45 min spin I registered and rode a couple laps of the course to get a feel. I have been doing hill repeats the last few weeks, and one of the hills I have been doing was very very similar. Wahoo! At 11 it was time to go rip off some legs. The field at the start was again large, a good at the very least 50. Including a bunch of sketchy people...
The race went from 0 to 100% right away, and right away it got safer. Horray! I was feeling pretty good, so I was hammering the hill. I set the pace a few time at the start of the race. About half way into the race the leading group was down to about 15. Each lap a guy or two would drop. Slowly but surely it came down to 7 or 8 of us. It was great. With 4 laps to go there was a prime and one guy kinda rolled off the front. I think everyone thought he was just going for the prime, but he just kept going and ended up winning. After he went off I was setting the pace up the hill with the remaining Grandstay guys doing the rest. It was good fun. At the top of the course a Grandstay got took off and his team did some good blocking. By the time I got around to the front he was to far off to catch, especially being gravitationally challenged. I was in good position in the finally corner, got some good speed going into the hill and held it. I was quickly gaining on the Grandstay guy, but he was just to far up. I just pushed it all up the hill. Another Grandstay guy had a great sprint and got me on the line. I ended up 4th. It was a great race.
The Women Pros were next.
Mara Abbot and Kristin Armstrong were amazing off the front...
Armstrong ended up winning.

The Men Pros were flying (at least the lead pack), by the time they were racing the hill was packed with people. It was really cool to see at a race here in the US..