First road race of the season is done, just about two weeks ago. Cherry Pie road race, two laps of a 26ish mile course, with fairly undulating terrain on one leg and flat on the way back. Headwind out, tailwind back and an uphill finish made for a fast run into the leg stinger of a finish. I made the drive out early in the morning, before any racing had even started, with coach Omer Kem, and teammate Graham Howard. Omer needed to be there to help with registration, while Graham and I were planning on selling some baked goods to help fund race entry fees for the future.
Some of the Bearcats made it out, many of them racing for the first time. I wished many of them good luck and gave any bits of advice they requested, mainly just trying to calm nerves, as I was in there spot only a year ago!
Gearing up for the first race of the year was fun, but not having a team jersey was a bit of a letdown. Either way the race went very well all things considered. Having come off an off season of being hit by a car, and using many different training tactics than last year, I had a great race and decent form with no crashes (always a plus).
The race started off with attacks from the gun. I went with most, about three the first lap, all gained a small gap, couple hundred meters, none stuck. Last lap I shuffled to the back and a few racers slipped off the front trying their own moves and grouped together. Once I was able to get back to the front on the tailwind leg I was able to get some great high-speed work in pulling the break back. It eventually blew up and the race winning move was made from the break. We caught the remains about 2km to go, and I led into the last corner with 200m left, a steep bit though. Big ringed the first 100m and blew up big time in the last 100m for 11th. All in all a great effort, for a pack finish, some great race training.
The next weekend of racing was cancelled due to snow. We had some chilly temps in Salem, but snow didn't stick for too long. Had a VO2 max and LT test on Sunday morning. Test went well, and numbers went up, which means I'm getting better!
Last week Wednesday, after some great training I was starting to feel a bit average. I decided to wait on the ride and felt worse as the day went on. Turned out to be quite a cold with a violent cough that only went away yesterday and today. Though I did have to miss the race yesterday, the first of the Banana Belt series, I should be back on the bike tomorrow and hoping to have a good race next Sunday.
Lastly, I've been able to get my hands on a SRM Powermeter, more on that soon!
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