Bite your stem and hold on

Last night was the final Nature Valley qualifier race. I had been sitting pretty good in the points for the individuals and wanted another shot at the race, so I got to drive all the way down to the cities for the evening.
For some reason I did not do any recovery ride since Saturday, oops. After getting out of the car yesterday I could tell. The batteries were already low. I figured it would be like most other crits, and I would just sit on till my legs came around. However, with the wind, and the course (that Hollywood, Casper and I made up) sitting in was damn hard to do. 70 some riders lined up, making it my biggest race of the year. And right from the start it was balls fast. The group split up real quickly into two main parts. Luckily I was far enough up to be in group A. Group B was pulled before the end. Anyhow, we just went fast, and with a 180 in the course taking away any advantage to cornering fast I was hurting. Plus everyone guttered each other, it was a full on bike race!
With about 6 laps to go I just could not go. Luckily the pack sat up just then so I quick caught back on and held it in for 5 laps. On the last lap I just had nothing and came in in a small group behind the field sprint. Even with getting popped I managed a few points and squeaked into NVGP.

This crit was a good practice round for next week. Bite your stem and hold on. My goal is to finish somewhere in the top half. Lofty I know, but I'll see what I can manage. Unlike last year I've been racing right up to the event, and know I am in already so I can get some good recovery.
See you all next week.