Once we got to Sierra Vista, I caught up with my coach Brad and his girlfriend Lee-Ann. We went out to go pre-ride the course as an opener and I felt stronger than I usually did before the race. Also I hung behind my coach on the climbs to note where the best lines were. The course was much looser than it was last year so I was sure to push my tires in a little harder on the climbs so I didn't spin out during the race. It was a nice day out and I expected it to be just as good the next day for the race. I had also kept in mind what Brad had told me a few days earlier that it was possible that I was going out too hard in the beginning effectively making me much slower than if I had paced myself better.
We got out to the venue about an hour before the race started to allow time for a proper warmup. It was not the nice day I had expected. It was incredibly windy. Windy enough that I couldn't get even a decent warmup in. I tried warming up on the road near the venue and there was so much wind I found myself almost moving backwards. I decided to quit on the warmup. I got back and ended up hanging out before the start.
I stood by the starting gate and watched the marathon guys heading out Even at the start it was relatively windy. I was still feeling really strong though and very ready to race. I was glad to finally have the confidence in my abilities back. I just had a really good feeling about this race. Then we all got lined up and ready to go.
I hadn't payed any attention to the race director this time. I was just focused on how great of a race it was going to be. I didn't need any of the info anyways. I knew this race: 5 black loops, 5 miles/lap at mild elevation (5000+/- ft.) and LOTS of climbing. I just barely heard the race director say 15 seconds and then everything went silent. I started the timer on my heart rate monitor and got ready to go. Then I counted down 15 seconds on my own and then I heard GO!!!!
Keeping in mind what Brad had told me, I didn't go out nearly as hard as I usually do. I was still up front though heading into the first climb. A few really fast cat 1 open guys passed me and I heard My buddies and teammates Kenny and Cal coming up behind me. I wasn't gonna let them through like I usually do though so I sped up the climb and beat them to the top. At this point Kenny and cal were right behind me. We hit the second climb and keeping a not of where the line up this one was, I flew up it while I saw Kenny off to my left sliding down on a line that looks like the perfect line up but gets super loose and more and more off camber the closer you get to the top. Then as Kenny slipped in between Cal and I, we hit the singletrack which was a huge relief because there was almost no way to pass on the singletrack. I still kept a solid pace though. Then on the first lap I lost my lead. I just barely missed the line I had committed to and almost endoed into a tree. Then Kenny passed me but I got back on just in time to catch up. We kept the same line, just us three going at it. We hit an open piece of trail and Kenny almost missed the turn back into the singletrack. I decided to try to take him here but he got going again too fast and my effort proved useless. I settled on just sticking behind him. On the second to last climb, I saw an opening to take back first. Kenny had taken the line off to the left and I took the one off to the right. It was a pretty open piece of trail so I just went for it without saying anything. I sped up the climb with immense power and just barely beat him to the top then cut in front of him on the descent. Then at the end of every lap, there was a super wide, open section that I for some reason always put a huge gap on Kenny and Cal. Then I hit the feed zone and I realized I still had the half bottle I started with. I didn't grab the second bottle from my dad. I signaled to him that I didn't need it and I kept going. Then the second lap. I was still feeling great and I knew what I had to do for the beginning of the lap; beat em to the singletrack. I knew that if I pushed a hard enough pace they wouldn't be able to pass me until almost the end of the lap. This went through my head every lap; just beat them to the singletrack and don't let them by. I kept it up and stayed in front of them to the finish. Then by the end of the second lap, I wasn't trying too hard to stay ahead but we hit this open dirt road section that lasted for about half a mile that was just before the lap/finish and feed zone. I noticed that I was putting a huge gap between myself and Kenny and Cal. This allowed me enough time to slow down slightly to toss the bottle I had and grab another one out of the feed zone. Time for a third lap. I figured I would take this one a little easier so I would still have energy for the last two laps. I still beat them up the first climb but at the second climb, Cal was right behind me and my tire didn't grab as much traction as I needed to push up the loose climb and I lost my line and all my momentum went with it so I was forced to get off and run up the last 20 feet of the climb. That was alright though because it wouldn't give Cal or Kenny an opening because they were following close enough behind that they would be forced to get off and run it too. Once I hit the top I noticed Cal had tried to get by me on the other side by running up the climb faster and trying to mount his bike faster. We got up at about the same time and mounted at the same time too. This would just be a game of who could make a stronger burst of power. I slammed on the pedals and got in front of him luckily. Then I just had to keep doing what I was doing, beat them to the singletrack; and I did again. I thought for a moment here that I would win the race and that thought stuck all the way through the third lap and into the fourth. By the time we hit the fourth lap, we were all worn out and exhausted. At least I was and I would have to imagine Kenny and Cal were at least feeling something. Regardless of how I was feeling, I pushed on and beat them to the singletrack yet again and I kept my position. I kept the same hard pace I was keeping the whole race and those feelings of victory just got stronger and stronger. I pushed all the way through to the fifth lap. Then something interesting happened. I but a big enough gap on that final descent into the lap/finish that I wasn't really able to tell what was going on behind me but Kenny and Cal started making attacks on each other while I was just pushing a consistent pace. Cal came up behind me on the left and I kept trying to cut off his line to the left where he was trying to pass as usual but he kept moving left and I couldn't quit get my bike all the way in front of him so I couldn't cut off his line completely. He was putting down a super hard attack. I just decided I would keep pushing him left... all the way to the left. I kept pushing his line over and he kept moving over and once I almost got him all the way over, I couldn't match it. His attack was just way too hard for me and I didn't want to blow up so I had no choice but to let him by. Then Kenny passed almost right after Cal did. I was somewhat relieved to not have the pressure of having to slam on the pedals every second of the race just to keep up first place but I was more disappointed in myself than relieved. I took the last lap kind of easy because I just didn't have the energy to match the pace they were setting. I started to go faster and faster towards the end of the lap because I knew it was my last lap and I wanted to squeeze out everything I had. It turned out I ended up with a solid third place finish in an amazing race. I ended up finishing 29 seconds behind Kenny and about 3 minutes behind Cal. It was definitely a good race though.
Once I got home, I looked at my performance from this year over last year. Last year in Cat 2, we did 3 laps of the same course. I took my first three lap times from this year and took nearly half an hour off my time. Definitely something to be stoked about!!
Next weekend is going to be another one in California. Racing Sunday in Fontana, CA hopefully to redeem myself from my performance at Bonelli Park.
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