Tuesday – I headed out for a lunch ride. I’ve been having computer issues with my Garmin Edge 301. I couldn’t get my little “Pacer” to show up the way I wanted him to. I got it to show up and started racing myself. I did about a 20 mile time trial “against myself”. You can race any previous effort – so I raced a good one from about 2 weeks ago. When I finished this effort, my pacer was 2.5 miles behind. Roughly 6-7 minutes, probably! I was tired and sore, but wow…. what a work out! Most pleased. Then I realized – it’s Tuesday – and I have to race tomorrow night. Suck it up – be tuff – cool – I got it!
Wednesday I get off work early and ride with Sarah. We did that and it was fun. We did about 23 miles on the Silver Comet Trail. Sarah exhibited new behaviors in her riding including sprints and powering over a hill out of the saddle – I think she’s finding her inner sprinter or something. It was really a nice day on the trail.
Get off the trail and head to the DLV. Race night! Warm up went about as planned. I did about 25 laps before the organized warm up, then 20 with the “C” group, and 15 with the B. I felt good … life was good, let’s race.
Typically, the short races start slow and unless I jump they stay that way. Not last night – some fast guys from Alabama were in town and they LIT IT UP! I was seeing Elvis and this was only our first race. I didn’t finish last – that’s about all I can take out of this one. The Miss-n-Out was a little bit better. Started SUPER fast … but I played it a bit smarter. Got a wheel – rode it out… I bet I was “middle of the pack”.
The “Tempo” is something new for this track, but its old pain for me. A race, where the 1st rider gets 2 points per lap, the second rider gets 1. Simply put, it’s FAST! I was determined to do better in this one and I did. No placing, but I stayed in the field. I may have gotten a top 5? not sure, but I know we lapped a bunch of people. I sort of found my game.
Now… let’s add on a madison. It was an odd, small madison. I unleashed a GREAT sprint for the first sprint and scored us a second place points. I was happy with that and then realized – we still had 20 more laps and that sucked. I suffered it out and we finished – I think third – good deal.
I finished off the night riding up a category in another Tempo – I don’t think that was smart – I think I was too smoked, but hey… 70 laps of racing with only minimal breaks – thats good training.
No track racing for a couple of weeks – but we should get some good training. Now it’s time to get to work – then ride with Sarah. I hope she doesn’t hurt me too bad today.