Fred Velo's 100 degree crit day
The thermostat in the car read 98 at 10 am as I locked it up and went to the start line. The power meter read 102. Point being, it was hot. With the humidity it felt like wtf.
I lined up in the back. Mistake number one. At the whistle, I did a little sprint around the outside to the front but the boys were not welcoming and moved around me and I was unsuccessful in my bid to grab a spot in the front third of the group. I also jacked my heart rate which never came down and put myself out into the wind.
This course was a D shaped mile andf a half at an office park so there were two tight turns and if you weren't up front you were braking and sprinting to stay in and today was not the day to be doing a lot of that. Did I mention it was hot?
Long story short, (because crits are genreally kind of boring) I got popped off the back when there was an attack up front with about 3 laps to go. Fair enough, there were a bunch of others with me so we could maybe work our way back in if we worked together. This is where cycling kind of sucks. I'm in front pulling and giving what I had which wasn't much and we go by the "crowd" at the start finish line. I hear a guy yell to the 2 guys sitting on my wheel, "That's it, stay right on his wheel." Again, wtf? To what end? To save yourself for your group ride tomorrow night? An early Monday office meeting? It's a 45 minute crit for fook's sake and if we're going to catch the lead groups we have to bust it. And these guys think I'm going to pull everyone there by myself? If I were that strong, I wouldn't be back here playing with them in the first place. Knucklehead roadies.....
Anyway, those guys fell off and didn't finish. I think it's important to finish, even when you're spanked, but that's me and I credit triathlon for giving me that approach and desire to grind it out. I pushed through by my lonesome, finished last and gave them a little Sagan/Forrest Gump at the finish. Good for a laugh or two.
Good news: pickle juice by itself, and choc milk with some black strap molassas, and lots of water make for a nice recovery.
Comments
Way to give it your best..
May do a crit tuesday.