Okay, so I’ve been doing speed-work and tapering my volume to see what I could do a national Pro/1/2 criterium. I don’t have an incredible sprint, but I have good leg speed and when I’m fit I can jump pretty well. Heather’s race was right before mine so I watched her race as I warmed up on the rollers.

My warm-up felt OK, and I did a few laps of the course before we lined up. I told a bunch of people from work and my neighborhood that I’d be racing and I saw many of them when heading to the line. The start was pretty fast but not ballistic. I used the technique of hanging at the back and letting gaps form before the corners, so I didn’t have brake due to the accordion effect. I would just let a decent gap open, go through the corner at full speed and catch right back up with the back of the pack after the corner.

The announcers announced primes right from the gun. It seemed like every other lap was a prime, and the primes were all $100! This kept the pace high…at the times on the straightaways that I could look down at my speedometer were doing 32-34 MPH. Even though it was fast, it didn’t feel that hard so I started moving up. I really hate riding in the middle of the pack so I had to work to get all the way to the front 10-20 riders.

Since I was in good position, I figured now was a good time to go through the start/finish in front so the announcer could announce my name, so people who knew me could say, “Hey, I know that guy!” So I slide out to the left and make a push and head to the front. As I get to the front right before the line, I hear the announcer announce another $100 prime. So after a brief hesitation I decide to try and go for it. I stood up and sprinted as hard as I could into the first corner. I could hear my named being yelled as I did. I settled and took the second corner as smooth as I could to maintain as much speed as possible. On the backstretch, I got into time trial mode, getting as low as I could on the drops. I swung over to the left side of the road, hopefully making it harder for the pack to see me. Maybe if they couldn’t see me they wouldn’t chase!?

By the third corner, my legs were burning. I take a quick look back and only see a couple people trying to catch me. I push through that and then the fourth corner. I look back and it looks like I had a good size gap. A little bit after the corner I got out of the saddle. That was a big mistake. I thought I could stand all the way to the line, but the stretch from the last corner to the line is longer than you think, especially when you’re not in a draft!

So I sit back down and try to push it in the saddle. When I looked back, I could tell that one of the two guys chasing, was gaining on me, but it didn’t look like he’d catch. I thought I had it in the bag! Well, as that stretch seem to get longer and longer, I took a another look back and I realized he was gaining on me faster than I thought! I stood up again and tried to sprint the last 150 meters. My legs were Jello at this point! I tried as hard as I could but at the line he just barely caught up to me. At first I wasn’t sure who won the prime, but a few seconds later I heard the announcer say it was him.

Aaaahh! I was so ticked off. Not just that he beat me by a tire’s width after a whole lap off the front by myself, but that I didn’t train like I should have this past winter, that I eased up thinking I had it, that I stood-up, sat-down then stood-up again. Basically I was just really upset with myself and had a major breakdown. I may have said a few expletives at this point and then quickly swerved to the side of the street pulled myself out of the race. I know, not a rational move, but you don’t think straight when the adrenaline is pumping and your heart rate is 191 BPM!

I tried to get back to the car as quickly as I could. I was a major bear when I got there and probably made Heather wonder why she married me. It was definitely not one of my better moments. I had been frustrated with a lot of things lately and I think that was just the breaking point. That was the hardest 1 minute effort I’ve ever put in on the bike and I didn’t even have my Power-Tap to see what the Wattage was! After I had more time to reflect on this experience, I guess I should have just stayed in. Even though they say you only have so much energy to expend in a bike race, and that effort about killed me, I could have stayed in just to see what I could have done in the final sprint. I was feeling pretty good that night and I just wasted it by dropping out. I also learned never to ease up when going for something, a prime, time bonus or a finish. You never know who’s going to sneak up on you!