BTR started out fast and it stayed fast the entire way. By the end of the race, our average speed was just under 27 mph, which is fast!! I thought I played the race pretty well during the beginning and towards the middle. I stayed out of the front and out of the wind, but I may have been a little too far back in the pack as I caught myself a couple times chasing. My chases were successful, I would catch back on, but it was a lot of extra work trying to get back on the group. Ideally, I would have been riding a little bit more towards the front. A few attacks went and every one came back. I think I tried to hop in a move but it came back almost before it got started.
At the beginning of the race I tried riding in the front of the main group but I was doing so much chasing making sure no breaks got away that I burned a lot of my matches so I moved back a bit, probably too much. I was out of breath and it was hard to catch my breath again. The legs felt fine but its just that feeling of almost suffocating that really takes a lot out of me. Towards the end of the race with about 5 laps left, a move did form and they actually stayed away the rest of the race until the very last lap when the main group brought back a couple of the guys in the break. Coming around the last turn, I would have liked to have been a little bit further up in the pack, I just didn't have the legs or the confidence to make a move.
It was raining very hard before my race at Race for Wishes so I decided racing in a road race wasn't worth the risk of getting sick, crashing, burning myself out for the rest of the season, so I drove back home. I'm disappointed the weather wasn't better this weekend, but I did win $30 at BTR so thats pretty cool!
This was my big weekend and the rain took a lot of that away. The rain stayed away from BTR for most of our race, it didn't start raining until about 2 or 3 laps left and it wasn't really a factor. Like I've said, this year is about learning so I really want the next couple races to be a little more exploratory. I want to go out in a break, I want to attack with a lap left out of the main field, I want to make a move coming around the final turn; I really just want to try some things and see what works.
I still have a few races left, more than a few, and I'm excited for them.
4/14 Eagle Creek Crit, Indianapolis, IN 12th Cat 4/5 (29)
4/22 Notre Dame Crit, South Bend, IN 12th Cat 4/5 (29)
4/29 Ann Arbor Spring Training Series Ann Arbor, MI 22nd Cat 4/5 (40)
5/6 Kalamazoo Half Marathon Kalamazoo, MI 13th (27) AG (M 19-24) / 249th (1392) Overall
5/7 131 Racing Series, Martin, MI 1st "B race" (9)
5/12 Tiger Lane Crit, Memphis, TN DNF Cat 3/4
5/20 Ann Arbor Spring Training Series Ann Arbor, MI 6th Cat 4/5 (25)
5/28 Waterford Hills Circuit Race, Clarkston, MI 13th Cat 4/5 (38)
6/3 Cobb Park Crit, Kankakee, IL 18th Cat 4/5 (36)
6/4 131 Racing Series, Matin, MI 2nd "B race" (6)
6/9 BTR Crit, Kalamazoo, MI 8th Cat 4 (16) 20th Cat 3/4 (32) $30
6/10 Race for Wishes, Lawton, MI DNS
6/15 Zeeland Crit, Zeeland, MI
7/1 Great Lakes State Classic, Marne, MI
7/8 Ashland Crit, Ashland, OH
7/14 Detroit Cycling Championship, Detroit, MI
7/15 Corktown Crit, Detroit, MI
7/21 Whiskey City Twilight Challenge, Lawrenceburg, IN
7/29 Muncie Grand Prix, Muncie, IN
8/26 54th Annual Debaets-Devos Pro-Am, Detroit, MI
Uncle Dave got married to Grandma Gail this weekend on Friday and it was beautiful and I'm so happy for them both and all my pictures will be from that!
Looking forward to more races and trying to figure out what works for me. Next year will be my year, this year is for getting used to things and learning all there is to learn!
Cheers! CE
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