Chad's spot for various thoughts, musings, poetry, ideas and whatnot

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Cycling is a sport of highs and lows; days where you are the windshield and days when you are the bug. Yesterday I was the former, today the later.

This weekend was the Union City Omnium. I think I've done some part of this omnium at least 5 times and the whole thing three times. I won my first big time trial at this race about 5 years ago and I've always used it as a gauge of my fitness. This weekend, however was one I should have quit while I was ahead.

Saturday Morning: Time Trial. No mistakes this time and no panic. I warm-up well on a cold morning with student Ray taking pictures of Jake, Todd and I as we huff and puff and turn the pedals 'round. I feel pretty good warming up with a lots of power. I go ove the course and my strategy. Long rollers on the course. Not too steep when you're riding in a group but they really get to the legs when you're going hard on your own. THe key is not to go too hard early in the climb so that you don't pop before the end. I get to the start line and Tony from ATS asks if I'm going to win today. "That's the plan, but who knows what the day holds," I respond. Today's official, Steve, welcomes me into the start tent and counts me down. I stand and sprint up to speed when he says, Go!" As I settle into my aero tuck I see my :30 man. Go get him I think. I bring myself up to full power and start the mental litany to stay focused. I'm gaining and just after the 2 mile marker I catch and pass him. I'm cruising as I hit the first big roller. "Keep it at the limit but no more," I tell myself. I can see the next two riders. They're dueling a bit unaware that I'm closing on them. On the second I close down on my minute man and catch him before the turnaround. Three hundred meters later I get my 90 second man. That's all the cat 4 riders that started in front of me. I have to bridge a gap to the cat 5's but before I do that I have to get up the traffic light hill. This hill broke me last year so I'm careful to stay within myself as I start the climb. Going over the top I'm just on my limit. I see the last cat 5 rider and set my sights on tracking him down. I do so at the bottom of the hill and blow past him on the flats. The next guy is a ways up. I hit the last climb up to the finish. It's a really long climb but there's nothing I have to do afterwards so I start on the limit and go into the red about halfway up. Two hundred meters from the finish I stand and sprint. I'm cross-eyed as I cross the line, completely spent. Ray tells me later that he got a great picture of me coming across looking like I was going to explode.

It turns out that I've won but only by seven seconds. Seven seconds over 10 miles and 22:45 in time. Less than 0.5%. The sprint might have been the difference. Overall I finish 15th and would have finished in the top third of the Pro/1/2 field. Take those guys out and I'm 6th overall. My form is coming around.

Saturday Afternoon: Criterium. The goal was to get more racing miles. The field was 50 and I know that my chance of winning a field sprint in this sized field is almost zero so I used the race to do intervals. I did my season best 5 second and 30 second average power so I can't complain. The troubling thing was that my legs were super heavy when warming up but they came around for the race.

Sunday Morning: Road Race. It was supposed to be a 45 ride through the back country west of the ATL. I've done the course and I know it's full of rollers. The race is always decided by the last climb and field sprint so my plan was to sit in until the last short power climb, try to move up and get in a good position for the sprint. On the first real climb, however, I knew that I was in trouble. I got popped off the back and had to sprint up to catch the field. I had felt really tired heading up tot he race and I knew that it was going to be a tough day for me. I hung on for 15 miles until the KOM climb and then could hold the group. My legs had popped and there was no sense in trying to make them do what they no longer could do so I sat up and rode the rest of the course tempo in order to burn calories and get some more miles in.

So, I tried to race exactly one day too many. No harm in trying but now I've got a little break until Chattanooga where I hope to pay back a couple of teammates for all the work they've done for me. After that I get a good sized break with only a couple of time trials as the heavy crit season takes over with the Twilight, Roswell and Sunny King criteriums bringing national caliber fields and a break in the racing that will allow me to train and hone my form for the state championship races in the early summer months. I'm looking forward to letting the stress of racing slide into the far background while I focus on doing solid intervals that will bring me to peak form at just the right time.

Thanks for Reading.

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