The forecast for today is 78 and 80 for tomorrow! Summer is here and it makes me happy. Full stop.
I met Jim K on the Mercer Island lid for a hot lap and only two other guys showed up! Perhaps it was for the best as I did not feel fresh. In spite of riding an incredibly low number of miles this weekend my legs are pretty dead feeling so going up the first hill at a truly moderate pace was a relief.
Once on top the tempo picked up some. It kept getting marginally faster as we rode and at the end I tried to lead Jim out for the tennis court crosswalk sprint but he decided not to contest it. No worries. The other two guy headed east while Jim and I crossed the lake again and went home. The view of Mt. Rainier was AMAZING this morning.
Here is the AM ride.
After work Dave H and I headed down to Pacific Raceways and I was treated to one of the ironies of bicycle racing.
I had just been blogging about 'spoilers' that will chase but never attack/win/contribute to breaks and so when Dave accelerated in the first half of the first lap and was followed by Nikos M (Garage Racing) and Sean P and Mark M (Starbucks) I figured we would be seeing them soon and did not concern myself. Well the exception to the rule that the pack will always catch the break is when ALL the strongest riders are in the damn break. Sigh.
Within just one lap I could tell I had made a serious error and that I was doomed to play the supporting role for the evening. It wouldn't have not been so bad except I had shown up determined to try and get away. So I grumbled a bit and got busy with the job of not chasing down the break.
For a change it was amazing how much the pack did NOT chase the break. Those guys (originally six) worked well together and even after dropping two riders they pretty much continually extended their lead. We would surge and sit up, repeat. Darren P (Excel) did most of the surging to his credit.
Finally with the break good and gone I decided it was safe to attack. My first attempt was pretty awesome if I do say so myself. The only problems were that by this time the break had a 1/3 lap lead and my effort seriously faded after half a lap. :) Sometimes the mind is willing but the body is not quite there… I tried one more time and again the chase was viscous and I was brought back in short order!
Here then is that irony. 1) the break got away and 2) the pack was still chasing ME. For some reason people think I am worth chasing…? There are loads of riders out here this year that are much, much stronger than I am. I suppose I should be flattered instead of upset?
Finally another group started to roll away from the bunch. It included Brian G (Garage Racing), Mark (Excel) and two others so when they had a couple of hundred meters and an opportunity presented itself I jumped as hard as I could and bridged. Matt H chased me and brought along another Starbucks rider as well so now it was six of us chasing four.
At first I worked hard in the move and we quickly distanced ourselves from what was left of the pack. We also closed on the break pretty quickly initially but then Matt started soft pedaling (and Brian had never been working) so I backed off some as well not wanting to tow a couple of fresh bodies with reasonable sprints up to the leaders that might by now be somewhat tired. The group was a little disorganized but two of the members were not so experienced and really I could not complain as I had finally made it into a move that was going to stay away.
With 1.5 laps to go I pretty much did nothing except follow wheels. Matt opted to lead us (read: Brian) out and since others were reluctant to do so, I took his wheel. Luckily he chose to hug the jersey barrier on the finish straight so I only had to watch my left side and once the Starbucks rider behind me got out of the saddle I did the same thing.
it was a close sprint but I still was 3rd (I think) across the line. My finishing kick sucks! I Heard that Dave got 2nd so other than letting Starbucks beat us it was mission accomplished. And hey, the weather was freaking fantastic so I should not whine about the evening. Good for Sean and Mark in that they were both right there and paying attention from the gun, good for Dave for initiating the move, good for Nikos for being in the break three weeks in a row and I will try again next week. When I will try to pay attention from the start.
| Sleep | 6 |
| Waking HR | |
| Body Weight | 8:00 AM - 179 |
| Body Fat | 8 |
| Breakfast | |
| Lunch | |
| Dinner | |
| Workout Food | race - small bottle w/1 tablet Nuun and 1 scoop HEED |
| Injuries | |
| Therapy | |
| Time of Day | ride - 6:30 AM race - 7:00 PM |
| Workout Type | intervals, race |
| Weather | upper 70s, sunny, dry, some wind |
| Course | race - flats |
| Distance | ride - 22 miles race - 31 miles |
| Time | ride - 1:28 race - 1:12 |
| Power | |
| Results | Masters 1st prime - pack 2nd prime - pack finish - 7th? |
| Equipment | Road Bike |
| Clothing | bib shorts, sleeveless undershirt, short sleeve jersey, cap |
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