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.
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