Sufferfest

Tonights thursday group ride was brutal...Heading down Horrell hill I found myself with Karl and a few others. It was the hardest we've ever gone on this stretch, Karl was absolutely killing it (and us too). All I could do was roll through. He probably did about 40% of the work in that break then rolled away on the climb...freakin mutant!

Down airbase...same story. Karl drilling it and me just trying to hold on. I had langs wheel on the sprint and felt pretty good, got a jump and was pulling away (very slowly...) until Derek came roaring by. Big strong sprinter types are supposed to get shelled on that little rise...not tonight. Derek is about as pure of a sprinter as you can get...think huge thick legs and track pedigree, he's very hard to beat. And he's hard to sneak up on with that damn mirror!

Overall I'm happy with how I felt tonight. I was able to hang in there and know that with some structured training in the next couple of weeks I'll be back in form.

Ladd's doing the Asheville races this weekend with his first TT tomorrow...my prediction: 1st (I should get into sports betting...I'm a genius)

Wattage junkies...you gotta check out this page for some great analysis of VandeVelde's 2006 tour...a 3 week TSS total of 4,711 and a CTL of 150. Amazing.