35+: Jay 4th, Ladd 6th, Me 7th, Brian 12th
45+: Lang 7th
3's : Sammy 4th (I think)
4's : Marc 4th
chicks 1,2,3: Casey 4th (2nd on Saturday)
Report:
Last night I came down with a pretty bad cough...one of those "there's something in my lungs" type of constant coughs. I didn't sleep well (if at all). 4:30am, 6 shots of espresso, pseudoephedrine, and lots of calories then meet Brian for the drive up.
The 35+ race is 90 miles: Two 45 mile laps. Couple of big rollers but nothing that selective. A pretty large field...60-70 riders (maybe more). We roll out and immediately we're hammering. I think a team decided to keep the pace high to prevent an early break.
On lap #1 at about mile 30 I'm feeling pretty bad...just tired and coughing. My legs felt good and I was riding near the front but I just felt kindof sick. I really really considered stopping at the first lap but then I had a 15 minute talk with myself and decided to stick it out. I'm glad I did. The second lap I felt progressively better and the legs started feeling really good. I was still coughing but only when we were going slow. Near the end I was feeling very strong.
With the large field it was tough to stay near the front. Everyone wanted to be there and with about 8 miles to go it turned into battle royal: if you weren't fighting for every spot you would lose 2. It was pretty nerve racking...and fast.
At 1k to go we were pegged at about 32 mph so no chance to get a leadout organized or for any late attacks. I had good position at about wheel 15...we take a hard right at 600m to go and it's then a full on sprint (it's the same every year). I'm weaving my way up through the crowds then see Jay...I go past him in the right gutter and he follows me but we get boxed in a bit and he loses my wheel then we free lanced it from there. If I would have had a clear shot up the gutter I think Jay could have won it. C'est la vie.
The power data isn't that interesting...a very high VI of 1.47 with lots of hard riding and lots of easy riding but what I did notice was that I spent 30% of my total time putting out a wattage of 0-20w (over an hour). That's good conservation.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
results
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4 Comments:
Great race Rich. I ended up taking 4th in the Cat 5 crit yesterday and 2nd in the Cat 5 35+ today. Great showing for all the Columbia bikes shops!
Good job. I think I saw you guys finish. The guy who won your race was a very big dude.
Nice ride.
Was your cough from a cold or asthma? I went for years getting the odd bad cough before getting diagnosed for Asthma. Mostly exercised induced. But very easily treated with an inhaler.
I thought about that but a cough for me is pretty rare. It's probably some sort of asthma induced by the pollen here.
During the race I was wishing someone would pass me an inhaler...
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