I went to swing for the other team today - that is I traded my knobby tires and one speed in for slick tires and a full complement of gears at the Settler's Life Criterium in Bristol, Tn.
I love Crit racing, not enough that I'll go out of my way to enter one but enough to where I'll hit one in my back yard after three hard weeks of racing off-road.
I didn't have much of a warm-up and my legs still felt a little dead from the last three weeks and also endurance racing is a lot different than racing Crits. The rpm's and intensity are much higher.
One lap in, I found myself on the front and I played there for a bit. When nobody came to pull through, I had momentary delusions of sneaking away and winning the thing but after a few accelerations, I saw that that wasn't gonna happen. I sat up and eased back into the pack where things were a little bumpy. The course was L shaped and almost dead flat but one thing about it was the corners were really tight and bumpy which made the course really technical. There was some bouncing and sliding through a few turns and I got to use some MTB skills after all.
In the end, I was in a crappy position going into the last turn and I didn't have the legs to overcome it.
I ended up 12th. Maybe I would have done better if they made it 11 hours longer..................
Ah, I was happy with my result and I had a lot of fun as well.
Next week it's back to the dirt at the Knoxvelo XC race in Oak Ridge Tn. Normally I don't like NORBA style XC races, they are too short, too stuffy and just not my bag but I love riding at Haw Ridge Park and I figured I needed a little more speed in my legs for the Cowbell since I am going to be doing it on a team (and we're going to be out for blood), so I signed up for it.
I love Crit racing, not enough that I'll go out of my way to enter one but enough to where I'll hit one in my back yard after three hard weeks of racing off-road.
I didn't have much of a warm-up and my legs still felt a little dead from the last three weeks and also endurance racing is a lot different than racing Crits. The rpm's and intensity are much higher.
One lap in, I found myself on the front and I played there for a bit. When nobody came to pull through, I had momentary delusions of sneaking away and winning the thing but after a few accelerations, I saw that that wasn't gonna happen. I sat up and eased back into the pack where things were a little bumpy. The course was L shaped and almost dead flat but one thing about it was the corners were really tight and bumpy which made the course really technical. There was some bouncing and sliding through a few turns and I got to use some MTB skills after all.
In the end, I was in a crappy position going into the last turn and I didn't have the legs to overcome it.
I ended up 12th. Maybe I would have done better if they made it 11 hours longer..................
Ah, I was happy with my result and I had a lot of fun as well.
Next week it's back to the dirt at the Knoxvelo XC race in Oak Ridge Tn. Normally I don't like NORBA style XC races, they are too short, too stuffy and just not my bag but I love riding at Haw Ridge Park and I figured I needed a little more speed in my legs for the Cowbell since I am going to be doing it on a team (and we're going to be out for blood), so I signed up for it.
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