I took a nap in the truck before the race as I had over 3 hours between the TT and the Crit start. I'd eaten a couple of bananas and had a Muscle Milk right after the TT finish to help kickstart the recovery process.
I'd found a good parking spot downtown and set up the trainer right behind the truck and an hour before the start I jumped on for a warmup. I did the usual 20 minute easy spin then added a few 1 minute hard efforts to get the blood flowing. I rolled over to the start with my spare wheels and dropped them in the wheel pit. We had time to roll a couple of laps before the start and I took this time to check out the corners. Some of them were interesting with curbs that stuck out into the road. There was one corner that you could catch some air on if you took the inside line.
The overall GC race was very close with the top 20 guys only separated by a few seconds, this was going to be an attacking race as people would try to get away to gain time. They announced 2 time bonus primes which would also stir things up.
The race started with a number of attack, the whole field was struck out in a long line for at least the first 20 minutes of the 70 minute race. There was a brief let up as the early breaks were brought back but then a group of strong guys escaped and we're pulling away from the field. As the teams that missed out went to the front to try and pull things back the pace picked up and the field strung out again. This time the pace was so high that small gaps started to open and people were dropping of the back shrinking the main group significantly over the next few laps. When the pace let up the next time it was noticeable how many people had got dropped and been pulled out.
People who had finished ahead of me in the RR and TT were now standing at the side of the road and spectating 30 minutes into the race.
This always makes me wonder where my strength lies, I can hang in a Crit almost regardless of how hard the effort is but can't TT to save my life. I'm guessing I'm just very efficient in a group and when things get technical.
Id decided before the race that id just sit in and see what happens closer to the end. If I felt good I'd try to mix it up with a sprint but there wasnt much change I was going to make on GC. With a couple of laps to go the break was still away with at least 5 guys up the road. Small groups were still trying to get away but the field wasn't letting anything go. It was really just a matter of sitting in and finishing up the race. I could also see my friend Josh just off the front of the field. He was in the top 10 after the TT and needed a couple of seconds to try and move up. He was dangling off the front of the field and holding them off. The sprint came and Josh had managed to hold off the main field by 2 seconds that held his top 10 place.
I took a couple of cool down laps and then went back to the car to get changed and cleaned up. I found a great little Taco Shop downtown just a few blocks from the course and had some lunch before starting the drive home.
The results came out a couple of days later and amazingly I'd managed to move up to 24rd place on GC and the 11th Cat 2!
Race Food:
Before - Tortillas, Clif Shot 2x Caffeine Gel
During - Crank Gel
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Location:Downtown Chico, CA
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