Pampa
Well-Known Member
Hey JMartz, sorry to hear about your injury. I hope you feel better soon and enjoy Colorado some other way.
My recap:
I came into the race with little training/riding, about the same as last year and I had the same goal as last year too: be in the top half of Open Men. That was my "base" goal and it's really not very motivating/fun so I had also some "targets" I wanted to chase
I got to the start a little late and was at the end of the group when I see Woody inching up on the side and decided to stick to his wheel even before the race started We went off and I'm pedaling as fast as I can to keep up with the group. I knew I was gonna have to pedal like a hamster in this part and I installed a cadence sensor in the bike just to know how much. The avg. for that fire road section was above 100 with a stretch of .6 miles at the beginning between 118 and 127 rpms :drooling: Ironically, given the low gearing I was running (32-18), I managed to stay with the group during the flat sections of the fire roads but as soon as we hit the hills I started to drop back.
Somewhere in the fire road I lost Woody's wheel and started to follow Mitch. I entered the ST behind him with a solid train ahead of us so I rode his wheel for a while and recovered a bit until I noticed that the train ahead of was starting to spread apart and I started to make some passes. I probably passed 5 people over the following few miles and ended up at the head of that little train but I didn't manage to put a gap on them. It looked to me that we were all going faster for a while and we started to catch up to to other riders. I think at this point I caught up with Pearl and passed him.
Sometime after that I got a flat. Luckily I put some air, wiggled the tire and the Stans sealed it. I probably lost less than 2 min but I got passed by 5 riders. I caught and pass a couple but I was also passed but two riders over the next few miles. The las part of the race I battling back and forth with a rider until the very end. I would pass him in flattish and/or muddy sections and he would pass me on the hills. I finished a few sec behind him. This year I was about 1 min "faster" than last year and ended up 43/97 vs. 47/96 las year.
As always Darkhorse people ran a great race. I had fun and it was great to see, even if briefly, people I enjoy racing and riding with. Unfortunately, I had to leave right after I finished since it was my son's birthday and I went straight to see him at a soccer match (it was hard to drive by the barbecue smell as I was leaving!).
After the soccer match I went home, loaded the bikes for my wife, 3 boys and me, and we went for our first family ride of the season to Deer Park. We only did 8.5 miles but it killed me since there was a lot of riding slow, starting and stopping and I was in my SS.
I'm still sore today but at least I'm not hurt so I'm already looking forward to the next race.
My recap:
I came into the race with little training/riding, about the same as last year and I had the same goal as last year too: be in the top half of Open Men. That was my "base" goal and it's really not very motivating/fun so I had also some "targets" I wanted to chase
I got to the start a little late and was at the end of the group when I see Woody inching up on the side and decided to stick to his wheel even before the race started We went off and I'm pedaling as fast as I can to keep up with the group. I knew I was gonna have to pedal like a hamster in this part and I installed a cadence sensor in the bike just to know how much. The avg. for that fire road section was above 100 with a stretch of .6 miles at the beginning between 118 and 127 rpms :drooling: Ironically, given the low gearing I was running (32-18), I managed to stay with the group during the flat sections of the fire roads but as soon as we hit the hills I started to drop back.
Somewhere in the fire road I lost Woody's wheel and started to follow Mitch. I entered the ST behind him with a solid train ahead of us so I rode his wheel for a while and recovered a bit until I noticed that the train ahead of was starting to spread apart and I started to make some passes. I probably passed 5 people over the following few miles and ended up at the head of that little train but I didn't manage to put a gap on them. It looked to me that we were all going faster for a while and we started to catch up to to other riders. I think at this point I caught up with Pearl and passed him.
Sometime after that I got a flat. Luckily I put some air, wiggled the tire and the Stans sealed it. I probably lost less than 2 min but I got passed by 5 riders. I caught and pass a couple but I was also passed but two riders over the next few miles. The las part of the race I battling back and forth with a rider until the very end. I would pass him in flattish and/or muddy sections and he would pass me on the hills. I finished a few sec behind him. This year I was about 1 min "faster" than last year and ended up 43/97 vs. 47/96 las year.
As always Darkhorse people ran a great race. I had fun and it was great to see, even if briefly, people I enjoy racing and riding with. Unfortunately, I had to leave right after I finished since it was my son's birthday and I went straight to see him at a soccer match (it was hard to drive by the barbecue smell as I was leaving!).
After the soccer match I went home, loaded the bikes for my wife, 3 boys and me, and we went for our first family ride of the season to Deer Park. We only did 8.5 miles but it killed me since there was a lot of riding slow, starting and stopping and I was in my SS.
I'm still sore today but at least I'm not hurt so I'm already looking forward to the next race.
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