I had pretty high hopes. I did everything right and unlike last year, I don't think my preparation could have been any better. I'm super happy with how my season went as a hole and think it's some of the most consistent racing I've had across a CX season.
Leading up to this race, literally every metric was pointing towards a peak level effort. I was super stoked to see a field of riders who were all Jersey holders in the last few years and was looking forward to racing against the 3 fastest guys from KC.
Aside from the night before the race I was able to temper my anxiety, sleep pretty well and felt fresh. I wasn't feeling any of the serious work related stress or like I had cooked my goose too much like last year. My goal was to win the overall, even though I knew there would be one super fast KC guy, I thought I had a chance.
The warm up / course inspection was wasn't ideal as the course wasn't setup at all and wouldn't be until just before race time. My new warm up routine has been a huge improvement and I was trying to modify it the best I could which basically meant about 1.5 laps of course preview in favor of my warm up on the rollers.
I was astonished to find that there were 3 KC guys and 3 STL guys. I don't know why people aren't showing up but it sucks.
I was trying to be somewhat patient off the start and J Doug took the hole shot but once we hit the hill I was feeling really light on the bike, my breathing was good and my legs felt good so I passed him when I could and started riding at my own pace.
Devin and Patrick passed me on the hill on the second lap and I didn't answer. To be honest, I sat and watched. A gap opened quickly but I was able to stay close until the hill on the 3rd lap. For the next two laps I fell way off the pace, probably 20-30 seconds each lap. I can't explain it. It's all between the ears. Every other lap was almost the same time.
Think I finished within 30 seconds or so of Devin, not sure about Patrick.
....picking this back up in June. Still stings.
No comments:
Post a Comment