Airport Tuesday Nighter

As a tune-up for the Boise Twilight, I figured I’d better get some flatland speedwork in. Tonight was a fee-based Tuesday nighter out past the Boise airport. These used to be free, but due to liability concerns, they had to start charging a negligible fee to get USCF insurance on it. It was another hot one today, around 100°. I carpooled to the Blacks Creek start area with a Lactic teammate, Mark. When I warmed up on the course I felt a little sluggish, I knew this would be a hard race. Due to the heat, it was a small showing. Maybe 35 riders total. The race started out OK, and the pace slowly increased on the way out as people would attack. On the way back, selections occurred, and I ended up in the front group of about 8 riders. It was hard pulling through and the hard efforts made my intestines hurt. I skipped a few pulls, which I know annoyed some of the riders I was with, but if I didn’t I probably would have been dropped. Coming into the “finish” I tried to stay on wheels and even sprinted at the end for the sake of practicing my sprint. I ended up in the top five, but the entire effort felt pretty bad.