Windy again but not as warm. Winds were out of the West at a little over 20 mph with gusts near 40 mph. Riding across a vast stretch of what was flat farmland with those kinds of winds beat the shit out of you. You don't wanna be riding a bike or trying to cast a fly fishing line into it. One thing I also learned during the race is remember wind direction when spitting.

The race went off with a quick reading of the rules and a go from the official. I was feeling a bit spent already, I didn't feel very well at work and wasn't hungry all day but felt fine enough to ride. My legs felt good but my lungs were heavy. I should have ate more food.

The first lap was fine, pretty fast but it was nice to be in the group and get dragged through the wind. The second lap was about the same. I was on the back though since I failed to jam my self into the paceline. Third lap I was still holding on the back and didn't get dropped until the fourth lap. There were 3 others that were off the back also and it was getting pretty spaced out. The front group was absolutely killing it and after the 5th lap I didn't see them much. I slowly started drifting away.

B passed me and my lungs were toast. I wasn't feeling like trying to catch up to him and just wanted to finish. As I was rounding a corner after taking a sip of my ClifShot drink a few minutes earlier I tried to get rid of some of the thicker built up mix in my mouth. As I changed directions the wind did not and when I let the sucker fly it went right along my right cheek, hair and part of my helmet. I don't think any made it to the intended ground target.

As I went through the start/finish my teammates were killing it for the win, Ben from Bianchi/GP took the win. I still had a lap to finish. I wasn't last or lapped but was close. Will next week be my week and finish in the pack?

-pete

Labels: bike, racing, spbrc