Weekend Insanity

To make up for my weekend, here's a nice and long post =)

Friday - After my Thursday rest day, legs felt better but still sore. This being the second week of dedicated cycling, some of the interval days leave me a bit tired. Nonetheless, I got up and pounded out my intervals. Typically, I find that in the PM when I'm 'awake' and coming back from work, I do better in my training but there was no excuse that morning. Almost all of them were under 430 watts [target] but over 410 watts. In the PM, the session was okay but it's tough to do around here when it gets dark. Sigh...my how I miss Hawaii [and of course, the bikini-clad women holding surfboards!]

Sunday - Earlybird #2

We did cornering practice so the mentor ride dealt with cornering vs. pedaling through a turn. I tend to be a corner-guy myself, but it seems a lot of people favor the pedaling through. I also took notice of the field and recognized one of the guys that was in the break with me last week. I 'marked' him and was firm in my staying behind his wheel for a bit.

My strategy was to do nothing for the first 5 laps [back of the bunch] and then move up. Then on the final lap with one turn to go, I was going to try and get in a break to where it would come down to a sprint with a few guys and then turn on the afterburners.

2 laps into the race, I witnessed the chilling sound of carbon fiber hitting the ground and witnesses bodies gyrating in the air as some people touched wheels ATTEMPTING TO PASS ON THE INSIDE! Hmm, no thanks. I was caught behind the 4-person crash and 'threw' my bike [pushed my butt way back on the saddle while applying the brakes] and then clipped out to avoid the crash. I was worked back into the group but man, that was just ugly, ambulances came and everything. Yikes.

5 laps to go and I figure I might want to move up and begin grabbing wheels wherever possible, always conscience never to touch the wind. I also take note of the marked guy that I wanted to be behind. Anyways, laps 6-8, I begin to move up and up, getting into the top 15 and not surprisingly, so is my marked buddy who noticed that I was behind him. There was a team at the front driving the group which was pretty much single file for the most part.

Bells go off and there's the sign for the final lap. This lap is kind of hairy because most of the folks in the rear burned a lot of energy and caught up to our group so I found myself in a group of 20 guys going into the second-to-last turn. We take the second turn and I notice the legs from others aren't really turning the way they should and so, I figure let's have a small, small attack [a light one too, didn't even get out of the saddle] to see if we can break some people up. The guy whose wheel I had been on [the 'marked' guy] followed me and I put in a light attack just to get some room going into the turn. The marked guy went in front of me and I caught his wheel. However, I noticed we were slowing down significantly and you can see this on the SRM [sharp decline at the end].

Going into the final turn it was myself, the 'marked' guy and this other dude that had bridged the small gap. Suddenly, a group of 10-12 guys comes roaring by as we head into the final 200 meters. I realized that we had missed 'the real' break and the winners were well ahead. Upset, I motored ahead and beat my small group at the line and placed a miserable 11th.