It was cold with a 20 degree wind-chill and no sun. Cars from Illinois were covered in snow. We went from almost 80 the last weekend to this, so there was no conditioning. I was most anxious about what to wear so I wouldn't cook myself but, as always, was really worried about my hands. I rode for 20 mins on Friday, and tried out two pairs of gloves and opted to go with a pair of neoprene gloves with liners underneath and embro on my hands, hoping the lack of breathability and moisture would warm things up. I think the last time I wore my thermal skin suit was probably for the State Championship race in 2008 and I most likely was wearing the same Craft wind blocker base layer, Craft zip base #2 and some woolies. I didn't have any Sportsbalm BKW and miss the smell, but greased up as I've had zero issues with my legs and feet.
Another small group but Vince was there so I knew between him and Jon it would be a fast group. My general plan has been to ride defensively if Anthony is there and offensively if not so I went out strong and found I was feeling good. I was able to open things up pretty quickly but there was no way I was going to let off the gas after given my track record lately with issues. The pedals were ticking over pretty easily and I rode a nearly clean race, with no mistakes I can recall other than taking out a stake. I continued to push because I was feeling good and thought a little bit about letting up for Sunday but decided against it and managed to increase the lead each lap. I think I finished in about 38 minutes.
After the race I realized my fingertips were a bluish black and was in excruciating pain, as I'm sure many others were as well but Reynaud's really makes cold/wet difficult for me.
What I found most interesting was that my power and average speed from soloing Saturday and going toe to toe with Anthony for 7 laps on Sunday were almost identical. Super pleased I can push myself that way.
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