Tour of StL (Carondolet Park Criterium)

This weekend was both the tour of STL and Collegiate regionals at Purdue. In light of a chemistry exam tonight, i opted for the local crit.

The weather showed all signs of holding off all morning before the noon criterium, but we ended up racing through a couple downpours. This was my first local race of the season and i was really pumped and trusted my fitness (which i have to say, is a nice feeling).

I decided i'd sit in the first 30 minutes as i did not have a teammate in the race and then allow a bit more aggression in the last half. A breakaway got off early and surprisingly, lasted quite sometime. About half way through, the sky just broke loose and it was heavy heavy rain. I couldn't see anything out of my glasses and with them off there as so much debris and spray that i couldn't really see either. that made things interesting.

at the time i was in a sort of chase group, leading the peloton and following the break. no one was organizing to work, but we had just finished an effort and were as close to the break as we'd been all race (10-15 seconds maybe), so i hit it. I figured the rain might slow the peloton down and that the break showed some promise staying away as long as it did. more than anything though, i was restless. I'm not very good at riding conservatively (too impatient). I got away solo and made the gap in about 45 seconds, feeling really strong.

turns out that one more rider was all it took to motivate the peloton though and we were caught in a matter of laps.

i just sat in then mixed it up in the finish, turning out a tenth place result/pack finish.

right over the line though, a gateway rider fell in front of me and i managed to swerve, but others tried to rely on their brakes and ended up hitting the barriers pretty hard as there was no stopping due to the rain.

OSU weekend

truthfully, it came and went. i got dropped in the road race and finished 15th out of 20 or so. that was demoralizing. It had been a rough week at school, but still i was lacking either form or mentality or both.

the criterium went better. i had a couple teammates in the peloton with me and while we really weren't able to organize in time or with enough power to really take control, it was nice having good company. i think i finished 7th behind a two man break. still not a good finish, but i sprinted from the back of the field and found out that i actually had legs. in retrospect i should have gotten myself better placing coming in, but that's that.

this saturday brothers Matt and Ian, strongman Vince, and myself did about an 80 mile hammerfest. We ended up in a tempo level paceline for the entire 4 hours it felt like, or at least until vince broke a shoe. it was the kind of thing that was much more intense than the powertap data would have liked, but my legs felt good and honestly it was a lot of fun.

this weekend is Purdue/Regionals. I'll be training through it, but am still excited. i'm shooting for tempo work tuesday, high volume thursday and just endurance stuff in between.

Herman Century

Well, i've always wanted to do a century ride to Herman and for one reason or another, just never got around to doing it when i was living in washington, mo. So, this easter i decided i would.

ouch.

i ended up following a route that took me up and down what felt like the biggest hills in this part of the country. climbing out of New Haven and Herman a couple times in the same ride is a good experience. i shouldn't really complain though, because i was taking it as easy as i could and zig zagging up the steeper hills (weak, i know).

on the brighter side though i managed the entire ride without bonking and turning out relatively consistent numbers throughout the ride. that was a first for me. Also, i got to see loads of turkey, deer, squirrels, rabbits, etc. There's something that feels amazing about diving down into the bottomlands from the top of a bluffside and then just drilling 27-30 mph through farmlands in the river bottoms. uniquely satisfying feeling. anxious to do it again.