Bike Racing

On Saturday morning I participated in a bike race up in Merrimac, MA. If Battenkill was a 10 in terms of course and performance, the Wayne Elliot Circuit Race was about a 3. The trip back from Montreal was pretty smooth and I thought things were feeling great. I mean, the buzz and energy from the show would surely propel me around the course to an inevitable victory in the cat. 5 race. Well that was not the case at all. The loop was 6.2 miles and we had 4 laps which is essentially an all out effort. There were no real climbs to break things up, just some bumps that even the most novice of climber can handle in a slipstream. I sat in for 3 miles and the pace was slower than training so I figured I'd hit the front, hammer and drop everyone. Lesson, don't ever be so cocky and arrogant and assume just because its a cat. 5 race that no one can ride with you. I hammered and hammered but couldn't drop the guys. Admittedly I was felling very off, no legs as they say in cycling. Despite pushing as hard as I could my speed was slower on the flats than many of my training efforts. I was clearly tired and dehydrated. Either way I continued to attack, settle, attack, settle all the way home. Eventually on the last circuit we were whittled down to a group of 8. Finally, my attacking and relentless pushing was breaking everyone (apparently a small crash took out 2 guys) so I grew in confidence that I would surge over the last mile and win. Not to be! I pushed up the last false flat but had no power and when I made a big push with 200m to go my right calf cramped and the 7 guys in my slipstream all came around me like I was in quicksand and beat me to the line. Horrible. But nothing more than I deserved. I wouldn't let anyone else lead because I wanted an all out effort and with bad legs and general fatigue I was never in a position to try and solo on a flat loop. The only positive take away was the fact that all 7 of the guys who swallowed me up before the line told me that it was great being pulled along. Being recognized for doing the lions share of the work was satisfying. That and the early am hard session I most likely would have avoided if there was no race to go to.

In the masters race my buddies Joe Savic and Eddie O both kicked ass and finished with the bunch sprint in a highly charged and competitive race. Kudos to both of them. I drove home and drank coffee, jogged 2 miles to remind myself why I must bike and not run, and finished off the day with some Pinot Noir. Very nice.

I have fallen behind on what is new and exciting in music. Kind of got in a bit of a same old rut, listening to the reliable music and revisiting old albums like Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights, Blur - Think Tank, and a lot of old Techno. I need to check out some new DJ's too. Its been a while since I stood in the middle of a dark room listening to a DJ play minimal techno to a clued in crowd. Boston's not the best city in the world for that action but it does exist here and I need to find it.......

Peace and Love,

Kel