The Recap....

So I finally have a little bit of down time to discuss the weekend. It was a fun one...4 races. I learned where my power is at and what I have to work on.

Race 1: Marian Collegiate Men's A Crit....
This one didn't go too well. It started out fast and I was in the field, but I followed the wrong wheel and a gap formed. There were about 10 of us in the split and we chased hard to get back on. Jon Cook was in this chase group too. We were about 15 meters off the pack....almost there...and everyone in my pack just gave up the fight. What the hell?!? I really wish I would have sprinted up to the group at that point. But we lost them and we were alone to ride along. Everyone was stupid in this pack. They just kept attacking and wasting their energy. All we needed to do was a pace line. We were pulled with 4 laps to go...

Race 2: Marian Crit P/1/2/3....
This one went a little better for me...until 30 minutes in. It started out super slow. Much different from a collegiate race. But about 3 laps in the speed picked up...but not because of attacks. They just started going harder. People were getting thrown off the back, but I was able to stay about 5 or 6th position with Dallas right behind me. About 20 minutes in a gap opens and about 14 riders are off the front...maybe by about 10 seconds or so...maybe a little less. I was sitting 4th wheel in the second pack...I was not going to be split from this group like the last crit. So I booked it up the right side yelling at a Mesa Cycles rider to get the hell out of my way cuz he was riding too slow to catch them. Dallas right on my wheel as I moved up and took control. He said I hit about 35 mph. He wasn't able to pull around at all. At one point I started to die a little bit and he knew he couldn't come around so he gave me a little push and that was enough for me to keep going and I finally closed the gap. A little recovery and I was good to go. About 30 minutes in I decide to attack. I start from about 5 wheels back. Jake Rytlewski comes with me and another guy. I get about a 10 second gap on the field...with Jake we should be gone. And then I enter the 120 degree corner...I guess I went in way too hott and I wiped out. God I was mad and in pain. I took that corner how many times? And then the one time I actually have a chance to be in a break initiated by me I go down. God damn it. I hugged the hay barrel right next to me and then I went to take my free lap. I got back into the race...did one lap and decided that the pain was a little too much. So I had to drop out. Damn it....

Race 3: Purdue TTT....
Freshie, Cook, Dallas and I practiced for 15 minutes and this was the first time since the Mizzou ITT last year that I was on a TT bike. It would be interesting and seeing that I wasn't able to walk on my leg very well, I didn't know how biking would hold up. It was a 6 mile loop. We went as hard as we could...I was going well and then we hit the short steep climb on the course. My road rash/crash the day before did not like that effort. So I started hurting a little too much, but I had to keep it up because we lost Cook just before the climb. We finished strong and completed the 6 mile course in 13:47. I would say thats not too shabby considering that we practiced together just 15 minutes before we went off. 2 guys had regular road bikes and I crashed the day before. Indiana won it in a time of 13:05, 2nd place was Marian at 13:13 and Purdue came in at 13:33. 4th place...not horrible...but we'll need some practice before Regionals and Natz.

Race 4: Purdue Road Race...
This was 8.5 laps of a 4 mile loop. So pretty much it was going to be a crit. I just wanted to stay with the field. A break formed of 10 guys. Then a chase of 3 riders and then our pack. I was able to hang with them until 1 lap left...my crash started to hurt. But with only one more lap to go I wasn't going to quit. I finished up strong and got 44th. Not the really the greatest result you can get, but at least my power is up a little more. Still need work though.

I took 2 days off and now I'm back on the bike. Today Dallas and I practiced our TT skills around Paoli. I kinda like TT'ing. I'm going to try and get out on the TT bike at least once a week. I'm thinking about dedicating Tuesdays for that.

The GDVC crit is this Sunday....hopefully I can try and do another break and not actually crash this time. It'll be good training too. Regionals is next weekend and Natz is only 4 weeks away.

Oh and it looks like I have a new team for 2008...details later....

Time for bed...

Ciao ciao....
Waitey