The heat is ON

Spring has come and gone in Southern California. It lasted about 5 hours. Hopefully some of you go to enjoy it. We are now into summer here. The heat was on this weekend for the races. Yes, races. More than one. The first (on Cinco de Mayo) was in San Diego in a really bad nieghborhood. The race is called Barrio Logan Grand Prix, and it is the State Crit Champs. The course is really tight, with lots of turns (8) and it is only .8 miles. I will give you a minute to crunch those numbers......done? Good, moving on then. On top of the technical course the road surface is not very good. Thankfully, most of the bad pavement is confined to the corners, so that's nice. Our sprinter had good form, but crashed on Thursday and pulled out of the very fast race. I was not aware he had called it quits. I went to the front to chase the very dangerous break, and helped to get them within 10 seconds, a very closable gap. As we had them in site I moved back to find our sprinter and bring him to the front (remember I didn't know he wasn't there). By now we had about 7 laps to go, and the pack had been cut in half by the fast pace. The break still dangled. I hit one of the bad corners and had a catastrophic equipment failure. The cleat sheered off the bottom of my shoe. No way to clip in, no way to keep racing. Without any help chasing the break's gap opened back up and they ended up holding it and taking the win. No worries I thought tomorrow is a 81 mile road race, on a course that is supposed to suit me according to my teammates.

Sunday, woke up to 20 mph winds and 80 degree temps, it warmed to 90 for the race. Attacks started really early and the climbs were longer and tougher than I had been told. The break went up the road and was gaining time, so me and another moron tried to bridge. Two laps of hammering up the hills and into the wind, only to be caught by the pack, which was chasing flat out, just as we caught the break. That was one of the dumbest things I have done on a bike in a long time. I know better than to try that type of thing. I should have just sat in. My effort cost me and I pulled out at the feedzone half way through lap 5 of 7. My legs gave out on me, and my legs decided I would not be finishing. Apparently I was not the only one in this position. The start list was about 65-70 guys. The race ended with less than 35. That will tell you how tough and fast that race was.

It is now mid season, and I can tell me early season peak has gone and I am now in my mid-season low form. The legs had some snap, but not nearly enough this weekend. This was to be expected, and after a break next week (vacation in Mexico) I will come back, do some training and be ready for the 2nd half of the season, and my second peak around July.