Finally got back out for a race on Saturday morning (12th May). It's been a while for me since my first race of the year, but the weather was too awesome to
stay in bed!
Big field, around 40-ish all up for the 40min + 3 laps crit.
Started off with a decent pace, and a QSM rider having an early crack at a solo
breakaway from the gun (good luck with that!). His team-mates swarmed to the front to take control, and the race 'story'
bcame clear very quickly - 5 or 6 QSM guys were going to try and control the
race... So I decided to try and work out who they were setting things up for,
so I could at least take advantage of all their work.
First 15min or so, there were quite a few breakaway attempt.
After about 10 or so started to get away, the whole peloton surged to re-form.
I'd positioned myself in the front third, so I was able to handle that OK.
Whistle for the prime came at 20min. I wasn't going to try for
it, but wanted to stay with the lead group in case they tried to get away
straight afterwards. I actually came in about 10th for it without sprinting,
and my legs were still feeling terrific, so I started to feel more confident with
the race. Kept telling myself not to get complacent and miss a move, and I'd at
least have a chance...
Can't remember when, but we got overtaken by B-grade just
the once. The yells of "stay left" and the yellow flags went up from
the corner marshalls - and one of the QSM guys took off. Bad form for mine, OK
if he'd already attacked, but once the yellow flags are out he should have
waited. Anyway, he lingered on the back of B-grade a bit too long after they
passed and got hooked by the commissaires - karma's a b!tch...
3 laps to go came up, and it all slowed right down. For the
first time all race, the QSM guy seemed unsure what to do, and everyone started
getting ready for the sprint and looking for a wheel to lead them out. I got
trapped on the inside line on the last lap after a moment of indecision, which
was a bad move. I watched the outside move quckly, and by the time I 'escaped'
for the sprint, I was racing for 10th spot...
Great morning though, and I was totally stoked with how good
my legs felt throughout the whole race. The story of the day for me was how I never, ever felt in trouble. At no stage did I go into the red in an effort to stay with the peloton. Its been a very long time since that's happened, and it tells me the consistent training I've been putting in this month is already starting to pay off.
Final stats - just over 48min racing,
average 39.4km/h.
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