Another Collegiate Weekend

I had two races this weekend and they both went pretty well.

The road race was a real test of fitness — 4 laps of a course with one pretty nasty climb.  The pack was destroyed the first time up the hill.  The rest of the race was just a matter of going around the thing 3 more times (in groups of no more than about 4).  I ended up finishing mid-pack but a teammate got 3rd which was great.

The crit had a nice little hill in it that dwindled the pack down but was not enough to pop me off.  I sat in most of the race, tried to stay near the front, and covered some moves when necessary and made a couple attacks when I thought the pack might split some more.  On the last lap I found a good wheel (the same as last weekend) and followed it for 2nd.

My timing could definitely use some work, as my solo efforts weren’t on the prime laps when I could have actually nabbed some points, but overall I’m really happy.

I’m only going to do one hard day this week in order to recover for the final collegiate weekend.

3 Race Weekend

First Crit: I tested my legs out a little bit by being pretty active throughout the race.  I felt good, but did not have the legs or position to do well in the sprint.  I ended up finishing mid-pack.

Second Crit: I felt absolutely horrible at the beginning due to the first race and the heat.  I basically did no work throughout the race except to help bring back a break that started to appear dangerous.  Instead of actually working to bring it back, I jumped off the front to try to bridge it and got a reaction from the pack.  I sat on for the rest of the race, found a good wheel and sprinted for 2nd.  Best race of the season so far.

Road Race: Once again, I sat in for most of the race.  There were a few instances where I had to jump to make sure the team was represented in ‘breaks’ but nothing ever had a chance of escaping.  My climber teammates pushed the pace really hard up the hills but the hills just weren’t long enough to break up the pack.  It was super hot and I ended up finishing 3 bottles in less than 3hrs.  It came down to a field sprint and I was decently positioned but my chain dropped just as I started to accelerate.  I’ll definitely need to have a look at that before the next race.

My training right now isn’t so great because of school and weather.  I’m taking 3 days off in a row because I really need to get some work done and it’s been extremely windy.  Is this bad for my performance? Probably, but my biggest concern right now is preventing another burnout.  If riding isn’t going to be at least a little bit enjoyable, a rest day should be in order.

Things are going well, and I can’t wait for Summer racing!

Quick April Update

Training is going very well. My 10mi TT time has gone down and I’m starting to feel like I’m in top shape again. I feel much stronger than I ever did last year. Collegiate season is starting to wind down (we really didn’t do many races) but I’m really not all that concerned with collegiate racing. I’m going to focus on preparing for Summer racing, including a stage race. I will be training pretty hard through the end of collegiate season, taking a short rest period, and then I will continue to build up for the Summer.