Today's went okay. I felt average, not as good as I would have liked although I stayed near the front the whole race. My legs just didn't feel very strong on the flatter sections or snappy on the climbs. My concerns this morning about the final turn were unfounded. It was a fast turn but everyone behaved themselves. The race was shortened to 25+5. Not very long for a Cat 3 race but the scheduled 30+5 was below normal too.
Big Shark had a big turnout and I think we controlled the race nicely. We always had someone going off the front and marking anyone making any moves to the front. Maybe 2/3 of the way through, Justin went with a Proctor rider on the uphill while I set tempo at the front. The pack left me pull for most of the top section but I was soft-pedaling and the lead two opened up a good gap. I was happy to let others sit behind because I knew Justin was strong enough to possibly stay away if the gap got big enough. Sure enough, the pack waited too long and they didnt have the strength to pull the leaders back with the Sharks covering everything that was attempted. I wasn't in great position for the bell lap but I moved up nicely on the hill. On the second half of the hill Bischoff attacked and I easily covered him. Unfortunately he was spent at the top and I found myself in front the pack into the wind. Not where I wanted to be but I resigned myself to setting a good pace and knowing I was going to get swarmed over on the downhill. If nothing else I stayed to the left shoulder and made others pass me in the wind. Not too many came by me and I still had about 15th spot in the final turn where I was behind Bischoff again. I took the turn tighter and moved past and caught a few others that gave up and finished 11th. Justin unfortunately got 2nd but the team also got 3rd, 4th, 5th, maybe 8th, and 10th. So, we really did do quite well as a team.
Negatives: The instant I found myself in front of the pack with 2/3 of a lap to go I basically resigned myself to a poor position. I mentally quit. The instant that happened I should have attacked violently. If I was caught, so what. But if I had made it to the downhill I wasn't going to lose any more places than what I did and others would have been hurting too.
Positives: I rode well despite not having the best form and thought I cornered well at speed for the first crit of the year.
Big Shark had a big turnout and I think we controlled the race nicely. We always had someone going off the front and marking anyone making any moves to the front. Maybe 2/3 of the way through, Justin went with a Proctor rider on the uphill while I set tempo at the front. The pack left me pull for most of the top section but I was soft-pedaling and the lead two opened up a good gap. I was happy to let others sit behind because I knew Justin was strong enough to possibly stay away if the gap got big enough. Sure enough, the pack waited too long and they didnt have the strength to pull the leaders back with the Sharks covering everything that was attempted. I wasn't in great position for the bell lap but I moved up nicely on the hill. On the second half of the hill Bischoff attacked and I easily covered him. Unfortunately he was spent at the top and I found myself in front the pack into the wind. Not where I wanted to be but I resigned myself to setting a good pace and knowing I was going to get swarmed over on the downhill. If nothing else I stayed to the left shoulder and made others pass me in the wind. Not too many came by me and I still had about 15th spot in the final turn where I was behind Bischoff again. I took the turn tighter and moved past and caught a few others that gave up and finished 11th. Justin unfortunately got 2nd but the team also got 3rd, 4th, 5th, maybe 8th, and 10th. So, we really did do quite well as a team.
Negatives: The instant I found myself in front of the pack with 2/3 of a lap to go I basically resigned myself to a poor position. I mentally quit. The instant that happened I should have attacked violently. If I was caught, so what. But if I had made it to the downhill I wasn't going to lose any more places than what I did and others would have been hurting too.
Positives: I rode well despite not having the best form and thought I cornered well at speed for the first crit of the year.
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