Yesterday I did my first Cat 1/2/3 race. It was fast... and oh so smooth. The Tyson's Corner Circuit race: 1.1 miles with a fast downhil backside and long grinding start/finish stretch. Katie and my cousin Ryan can verify that I was actually smiling for the first few laps; I felt at home. I'm glad promoters occasionally allow 3's in with the 1/2's... it's a great learning experience. Anyways, I lasted about halfway through the race before pulling out.
I awoke early Sunday morning with already tired legs. I'm in Build 2, with loads of intervals... by the weekend the legs don't seem to have much zip. No worries though. During the Cat 3 race, I tried to stay near the action, joining promising moves.. but to no avail. I knew I didn't have the legs to ride in a small break, but if I could get in a decent group, it would be a matter of "institutional imperitive" (do as little as possible while getting the job done). Needless to say, I missed the move of the day. A group of 9 made the split, eventually getting a gap of 40 seconds on the field. Rockville Harley Davidison tried blocking the field from chasing... at least that's what I think they were doing. It was as if sometimes the were chasing full throttle... an others the refused to pull through. I attempted to organize a chase; but came up empty handed. On the final lap I moved up to my usual spot near the front. Evolution had a train of guys trying to blast through the back side of the course for a lead out. Being the oportunist that I can be, I got in behind them. Unfortunately their second man ran out of steam, causing a swarm on both sides of us (talk about a blown lead out!). I sat up and finished at the tailend of the reduced field.
The 1/2/3 race was great... I know if I had not done the 3 race, finishing would not have been a problem. Who knows? Maybe I could've followed the right wheel to be up near the front atthe finish? The race ended up in a field sprint... my coach and mentor Cam lost by just a tire width. So close... he had it until the final few meters. There was a crash in the sprint... amazingly only one guy went down.
After the race; Katie, Ryan, and I enjoyed dinner at the TGI Friday's in Tysons. Check out the Jack Daniels burger sometime... very delicious. We ate, chatted, then finally parted. It's always great to mix bike racing and family. The drive home wasn'ttoo bad, but finally became tedious halfway down 81. Nevertheless, we arrived home safely.
This weekend I'll be at the Hampton Roads Cycling Classic... the Smithfield TT on Saturday (finally a TT under 40k!), and the Conte's Classic in downtown Norfolk Sunday. Sunday's course is great: 180 degree turn, cobbles, and a loooong (and misleading) finishing stretch.
53x11? We'll see Sunday.
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