It's been two years since I've been on the podium of a bike race but that ended this weekend in a big way. This weekend was the annual Perry-Roubaix omnium with a time trial Saturday morning, a long criterium/circuit race Saturday afternoon and a 50 mile road race with a twist this morning.
The time trial at the race is the perfect type of course for me. Flat to low rollers for the most part (there was a nasty climb about 4 miles in a the turn around), the route plays to my strength of being able to produce a lot of power at lactate threshold and to hold it there for about as long as I need to (at least up to the end of the first hour and then everything blows up). The TT was 10 miles long and even though I had a really bad start due to clip in problems, I was soon on top of a big gear and turning it over. About three miles in I realized I was holding a 25+ mph pace and that I still had some LT ceiling. When I hit the climb I clenched my teeth, bore down, stayed aero and powered up the hill. I had passed two guys on the way out and when I passed four guys on the mile long 4% climb I really began to believe it was going to be a good day. I passed the last two guys who had started ahead of me just as we started the descent and stayed up on the rivet all the way back home for a 23:16 time which is about 25.7 mph. I also won the race.
The last time I was on the podium of a race was the P-R TT two years ago and the last win was at Tundra just over two years ago. I'm not sure what has changed since I got kicked around up at Tundra but today my time compared really well with the Cat III and Master's 40+ riders so I guess I've added a bunch of power in the last month (as well as lost about 10 lbs). The series has a set of really cool podiums and it was so cool to stand up on the top step to have my picture taken.
That afternoon I participated in the most hated of bicycle racing forms; the criterium. I don't sprint, I don't corner well and I don't do surges; all of which are important for this type of racing. The race started and, like usual, my legs were rubbish for the first third of the race. About the time my legs started to round into form, the group decided to sort of sit up and take it easy and to leave a lne open for an attack. Since I have basically no chance to win in a final field sprint I decided to take a flyer to and see if anyone would come with me and maybe pick up a few primes. When I looked back, no one had come with me but they group had given me a lot of room. I decided to try and go a lap or two to see if I could entice someone to come across. Surprisingly to me, no one did but the group kept giving me room to ride and after about a quarter of a lap/30 second lead. About then, someone pointed out to the rest of the somewhat disinterested group that I had won the TT and that I could make this stick if someone didn't start working hard to pull me back I think it was probably the guy who took second in the TT). I lasted about two more laps. I took one more shot on the last lap to try and get away but that didn't stick either and I ended up finishing about 29th but I was ok with that. I had animated the race and made it interesting and I hadn't been content to sit in on other's wheels.
I'll report on the road race tomorrow, as that'll take another long entry but it went pretty well also. All in all, it was a great weekend of bike racing.
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