This weekend ended up being the UVA/VCU race and by that i mean the VCU race and by that i mean the King's Dominion hammerfest 10'. Iv got to say, the two crits this weekend were definitely, without a doubt some of the hardest bike racing I have ever competed in. The beginning of the season looked VERY promising for me, I had two weekends with consecutive top 10 finishes and breaks from the field. I also had two road races, both of which with rollers which very much fits my riding style. Unfortunately our home race was not such a success for me, neither was the Wake forest crit. Therefore when I heard this weekend would consist of two crits, I was less than pleased.
I will forever be a runner. Endurance athletes are a RARE breed, most people for example soccer players look at running to work their aerobic/anaerobic system as a means to improve their game. Endurance athletes are all about fine tuning their bodies to give themselves a leg up on the competition. This involves dedicating themselves to training, spending long hours in the saddle or pounding the pavement as well as dong sprint intervals till they feel like vomiting. Since I have gotten out of being told to do anaerobic work, I must say I do very little I love to flirt with my threshold on long rides, trying to see how much I can push myself before my legs pool with lactate, but Im a bitch and dont do sprints. Why? cause I suck at them. This needs to change.
Going into the crits this weekend I was coming off 2 big training weeks on the bike. Between Spring Break at OBX and the past week where I was well over 200 miles before the race weekend, I had spent ALOT of time in the saddle. Unfortunately Saturday my legs were feeling it. Theres not alot worse than watching the field gain on you and having your legs tell you to fuck yourself when you feebly attempt to catch up. I found myself in this situation far to many times Satuday. Fortunately, I was able to stay mentally strong and work hard enough to get myself back in the field for a 13th place finish. Not excellent, but Ill take it for the way my legs felt. Definitely one of what I felt the hardest races Ive ever done was, not sure if this is because of the intense technical asepect of the race or simply my dead ass legs.
Fortunately Sunday i warmed up better and my legs felt MUCH better than they did on Saturday. I was determined today to race hard and if I wasnt going to win I was going to make everyone hurt like hell to stay in the pack and I feel I did a pretty good job. Its hard when your legs feel good not to take pulls, this is something I need to work on because it frequently leaves my already feeble attempt at a sprint in shambles. Its not like running where i can just go by them, cause unfortunately they can latch onto me in cycling. Heres a picture of "the face" that my team knows me for when I exert such efforts. Anyway, I worked my ass off, stayed in the field, tried to catch the duke sandbagger but didnt. Thats ok, the A's can have fun chasing his ass down, and most of them wont be able to either funnily enough. Good riddance duke and navy, its been fun but Ill enjoy competing now!
O I almost forgot, one of the best parts of the weekend was not the races but the idea to ride back to campus from Kings Dominion AFTER the race. So after Cory's race, Andrew Moore, Cory, and I embarked on our adventure. Stopping once at hardees to feast some apple turnovers was a much needed relief on our taints. It was fun, my legs hurt like hell and now that I have wasted my valuable sleep time typing this up I am going to go do what I should already be doing, SLEEPING
what a beast, what a beast
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