Crits = Suck

Criteriums....the simplest of races; riding around in circles for 45 minutes over 30 mph. HR's north of 170. Yeah, it blew. I've been a bad guy and haven't been blogging. Truth is, I've been sleeping! Yes, you read correctly. Sleeping 8 hours these days and loving every minute of it. Truth is, interval training is taking a lot out but that's no excuse. Anywho, I'll get to what you really wanna see. The weekend log:

FRIDAY

Wasted day and I didn’t do my intervals. I had to get my tire replaced [again] and didn’t want to risk anything one day from racing and hence, the reason why you’re not seeing any Friday data. I got a provisional tire until my training tire comes back in [this one is a ‘wire’ tire and will hold up a bit better than my road tires].

So I decided to do some light yoga at my gym and spent the time with my dad. We got some vegan thai food: spicy eggplant tofu, green coconut curry with seitan. Wow. Add to that some brown rice and some ass-kickin mint tea? Umm, hell yes.

SATURDAY

The best day I’ve had on my bike since I’ve been back home. For the first time, I rode with my team, the Berkeley Bike Club. There were a bunch of people around that had really, REALLY expensive bikes. Anyways, we got to the first climb which is about 1.5 miles up and I set the pace and noticed I had some company. About mid-way I up I start throwing down watts and no one is left. At the top, I ride back down to be with the bunch and then cycle up again. Second climb was awesome too because I got up and would hear people behind me saying ‘going in the small ring’ while I kept going and grinding. Looking back, there was no one there and it was great. Pretty sure I solidified myself as a climber.

We went 65 miles on the day and it was great. There were 3 climbs. 2 short but gnarly ones and I had a blast just tearing legs out there. Then, on the last climb, it was 3.5 miles [an actual long climb!]. Coolest part about this was prior to the climb, a team mate had a flat tire so I pulled over and waited while 6 riders went ahead. 5-6 minutes later, we started back up again and I had an awesome climb. Once we started, I immediately separated from the bunch and then, little by little, I caught the rest of the 6 riders. Each time, they got on my wheel for as long as they could but couldn’t hold. It was great. Super super watts. HR’s north of 190, just ripping it out there. My descending was great too! Man, I LOVE CLIMBING!

Worst part of the day: SRM didn’t download data correctly so there’s no way you could see how it was. Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo disappointing. But not as disappointing as….

SUNDAY

Woke up quite sore from yesterday but not tired; Implemented my pre race rituals. One thing: Seems that I have to use the restroom a lot. This is true when I was running. I was so nervous that I had to use the restroom a bunch!

First thing I noticed: pace was really, REALLY fast and part of this has to do with the super Saturday I had yesterday. Legs were a bit tired but that was no excuse. I stuck my head out there and moved up with the pack little by little. I noticed a lot of little breaks at the front and a lot of wasted energy. These were mainly small breaks that would be reeled back in over time.

I was doing my best to identify the thalweg and I was in a really good draft. There were times I was barely pedaling but moving up somehow? Another thing was I marked 2 people and noticed where they were in the pack. One lap to go and I start to move up when they move. I love how people will go up and I just hop on the train where possible. But again, pace was FAST this time; that or I was just tired and had to work a lot. Not so sure yet. Anyways, I was in the bunch when the sprint happened and right when I was getting up to speed, I heard weird sounds from my bike and realized 2 spokes were bent and coming off. Bike was wobbly and I decided to not contest the sprint and just keep it safe. It was crappy, finished in top 20 but that’s pretty sorry in my head. I mean, might as well not finish at all.

I am feeling disappointed in myself and frankly, I just don’t like crits. No hill climbs and places where I can really rip legs apart. But re-reading what I just typed, I’m motivated for this weekend. I know I’m not good at crits but I also know I have the potential. But wow, if you look at the SRM HR’s were well over 170 for the duration so there was some serious work being done. Looking at the past .SRM files over time, I realize that each time, I’m getting faster, cadence is up, HR is up and power is up so there’s improvement. But I can’t help but get down on myself when I think ‘man, I should be killing these guys up and down’. There time will come soon.