Tilles Crit
The day after another humbling beat down of my self-confidence at Hillsboro-Roubaix, we faced the Tilles Park Crit. Tilles Park is kinder, gentler race with flowing bends and gentle rises in terrain. That's not to say there cannot be some hard racing but, generally, you can sit in the pack survive quite nicely.
Sunday, the wind was blowing quite strongly and made the prospects of a tougher race greater. The difficulty of the race itself never came to fruition. If you put your nose of the front or tried to escape, then the race and wind felt difficult.
I tried to race smart and get some solid racing in my legs. My fitness does feel very high right now so I need to be careful in choosing the length and timing of my efforts. I did feel frisky halfway through the race and put in an attack. In reality, the attack was stupid because nobody went with me so it was doomed to fail. Then, as I crossed the start/finish line the prime bell rang. Great! The prime bell just after an attack is so disheartening to me. Especially when my ability to recover is poor right now. Once the bell rang, there were visions me getting dropped running through my head. I figured the bell would stir up the pack's aggressiveness, I would get caught and then not be able to catch onto the fast moving peloton as it blew by me.
For whatever reason, they did not seem eager to chase. Only after rounding the first bend did I see a Chris Connolly up the road, which could explain the unwillingness of the pack to go for the prine. I know it dashed my hopes of a prime but figured I would push onward and see how long I could hold off the pack. Surprisingly, I kept gaining ground on the leader. Rather quickly, actually. I moved to the opposite side of the road as Connolly to try and make it harder for him to get on my wheel for the finishing stretch. Turned out that he didn't even try.
And, so, I had actually won a rare prime for me. What did I win? Two golf certificates. Yay!!!! Oh wait, I don't golf. Anyway, it was fun to win something for a change.
Late in the race a group of seven guys did manage to roll off the front and stayed away to the finish. None of our team's three riders made the cut but we raced pretty well.
Sunday, the wind was blowing quite strongly and made the prospects of a tougher race greater. The difficulty of the race itself never came to fruition. If you put your nose of the front or tried to escape, then the race and wind felt difficult.
I tried to race smart and get some solid racing in my legs. My fitness does feel very high right now so I need to be careful in choosing the length and timing of my efforts. I did feel frisky halfway through the race and put in an attack. In reality, the attack was stupid because nobody went with me so it was doomed to fail. Then, as I crossed the start/finish line the prime bell rang. Great! The prime bell just after an attack is so disheartening to me. Especially when my ability to recover is poor right now. Once the bell rang, there were visions me getting dropped running through my head. I figured the bell would stir up the pack's aggressiveness, I would get caught and then not be able to catch onto the fast moving peloton as it blew by me.
For whatever reason, they did not seem eager to chase. Only after rounding the first bend did I see a Chris Connolly up the road, which could explain the unwillingness of the pack to go for the prine. I know it dashed my hopes of a prime but figured I would push onward and see how long I could hold off the pack. Surprisingly, I kept gaining ground on the leader. Rather quickly, actually. I moved to the opposite side of the road as Connolly to try and make it harder for him to get on my wheel for the finishing stretch. Turned out that he didn't even try.
And, so, I had actually won a rare prime for me. What did I win? Two golf certificates. Yay!!!! Oh wait, I don't golf. Anyway, it was fun to win something for a change.
Late in the race a group of seven guys did manage to roll off the front and stayed away to the finish. None of our team's three riders made the cut but we raced pretty well.
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