Round Three....ding, ding, ding!
Yeah that is right. Last time I posted I mentioned having my 3rd and final surgery on March 6th to get all the hardware out from my broken leg. Well......it's now March 7th, 
so I'm sitting here in the cozy little alley cottage with my foot propped up in a chair with low-and-behold....gauze and an ace bandage around my throbbing ankle. As you see in the picture I've got a nice little baggy of Ti hardware. I'd much rather have those bolts and plates somewhere on my race bike....but instead they had to come out of my leg. Well I guess it's fine. I planned the winter pretty well and accomplished one goal thus far this season. I wanted to get out and race early which I've already done and I wanted to get some Cat 1 upgrade points prior to this surgery. And as of last weekend when I went to the University or NM Rocky Mtn collegiate opener, I did just that. I wouldn't have guessed it considering how poorly I did in the ITT on Saturday that I would ride really well in the crit on Sunday. Yep I got smoked in the ITT on Saturday when the weather was 76 degrees and sunny. I think I finished a 15K course in 24:20, which placed me 18th/30 or something. I don't know who stole my legs and replaced them with a chickens, because I could not go hard and I averaged a whole 50 watts less than the ITT at Valley of the Sun that was about 5 miles longer. I guess that what being sick for a few weeks does to you. But as for the crit...I had a few partners in crime for the day. My newly found buddy Cory Carlson, DU coach and Rio rider, was there to help his Rio and CU teammate, Brad Bingham, get some Cat 1 points as well. The plan was for both of us to sit-in and wait until later in the race to get in a break. Well like plans ever work especially when you are riding a sub-one mile square in the middle of a balloon field with 30 mph head winds. Well an early break went and I didn't intend to bridge but when I took a pull into the headwind I suddenly remembered a conversation that Cory and I had with the collegiate kids before the race. "You never want to be the bitch on the front pulling others around or up to the break....if you're gonna go..go and get across the gap!" Well there I was...on the front....into the headwind....and I was that guy! I thought at least. I turned and realized that the group all were scattered and didn't want to work into the wind and I had a gap and I was barely pushing tempo pace. Well I soft pedaled and I didn't lose ground so I thought, well I'd much rather be up in that group than back in the pack. So I eased the pace up to threshold and walla I was 3/4 ways across the gap and the group was slowly going backwards. The next thing I know, I'm in the break with 4 others and then 1 more rider comes across the gap. We are barely working together and still manage to increase the gap. This turned out to be a good move. Unfortunately one of the riders in the break decided to go again before I'd recovered from catching the break, so there was a lead of 2 up the road from us and a group of 4 of us, and then everyone else a half lap back. Well I quickly realized that one of the guys in our group of 4 had a teammate up the road....so he did absolutely no work and the other two guys were Colavita teammates, so I had better play my cards right. Well the teammates took their shots at me with 4 laps to go, firing off attacks on each side of the road one after another, and again with 3 to go and with 2 to go and each time I was able to snap and cover. On the last lap they both tried again and by default one of them got dropped after his teammate countered and then as expected the 4th man that did no work all day launched an attack that was weak and easily covered. With 2 corners to go, I knew that it was my chance since I'm not a big max watt sprinter. So I went on the opposite side from where everyone else had attacked, caught both guys off guard and left no prisoners. I turned the corner drilling 900 watts and then held 700 watts to the line with a 50 meter gap to take the field sprint for 3rd place! Whew...felt good to tactically out maneuver teammates. It was definitely a good last race prior to surgery this week.
so I'm sitting here in the cozy little alley cottage with my foot propped up in a chair with low-and-behold....gauze and an ace bandage around my throbbing ankle. As you see in the picture I've got a nice little baggy of Ti hardware. I'd much rather have those bolts and plates somewhere on my race bike....but instead they had to come out of my leg. Well I guess it's fine. I planned the winter pretty well and accomplished one goal thus far this season. I wanted to get out and race early which I've already done and I wanted to get some Cat 1 upgrade points prior to this surgery. And as of last weekend when I went to the University or NM Rocky Mtn collegiate opener, I did just that. I wouldn't have guessed it considering how poorly I did in the ITT on Saturday that I would ride really well in the crit on Sunday. Yep I got smoked in the ITT on Saturday when the weather was 76 degrees and sunny. I think I finished a 15K course in 24:20, which placed me 18th/30 or something. I don't know who stole my legs and replaced them with a chickens, because I could not go hard and I averaged a whole 50 watts less than the ITT at Valley of the Sun that was about 5 miles longer. I guess that what being sick for a few weeks does to you. But as for the crit...I had a few partners in crime for the day. My newly found buddy Cory Carlson, DU coach and Rio rider, was there to help his Rio and CU teammate, Brad Bingham, get some Cat 1 points as well. The plan was for both of us to sit-in and wait until later in the race to get in a break. Well like plans ever work especially when you are riding a sub-one mile square in the middle of a balloon field with 30 mph head winds. Well an early break went and I didn't intend to bridge but when I took a pull into the headwind I suddenly remembered a conversation that Cory and I had with the collegiate kids before the race. "You never want to be the bitch on the front pulling others around or up to the break....if you're gonna go..go and get across the gap!" Well there I was...on the front....into the headwind....and I was that guy! I thought at least. I turned and realized that the group all were scattered and didn't want to work into the wind and I had a gap and I was barely pushing tempo pace. Well I soft pedaled and I didn't lose ground so I thought, well I'd much rather be up in that group than back in the pack. So I eased the pace up to threshold and walla I was 3/4 ways across the gap and the group was slowly going backwards. The next thing I know, I'm in the break with 4 others and then 1 more rider comes across the gap. We are barely working together and still manage to increase the gap. This turned out to be a good move. Unfortunately one of the riders in the break decided to go again before I'd recovered from catching the break, so there was a lead of 2 up the road from us and a group of 4 of us, and then everyone else a half lap back. Well I quickly realized that one of the guys in our group of 4 had a teammate up the road....so he did absolutely no work and the other two guys were Colavita teammates, so I had better play my cards right. Well the teammates took their shots at me with 4 laps to go, firing off attacks on each side of the road one after another, and again with 3 to go and with 2 to go and each time I was able to snap and cover. On the last lap they both tried again and by default one of them got dropped after his teammate countered and then as expected the 4th man that did no work all day launched an attack that was weak and easily covered. With 2 corners to go, I knew that it was my chance since I'm not a big max watt sprinter. So I went on the opposite side from where everyone else had attacked, caught both guys off guard and left no prisoners. I turned the corner drilling 900 watts and then held 700 watts to the line with a 50 meter gap to take the field sprint for 3rd place! Whew...felt good to tactically out maneuver teammates. It was definitely a good last race prior to surgery this week.
posted by Unknown at 5:38 PM
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