Mt. Tabor Series #2 6/15/06

I’m starting with #2 because I missed #1 due to a missed connection at the Portland airport… anyways:

11 laps of a 1.3-mile course that goes up, then down. In the Pro/1/2 combined field. Short, hard and fast.

Tonight, a good result: 6th out of like 40 starters. Not too shabby. Especially when the race was all about not getting dropped: ride near the front, hammer up the hill, hitting my max pulse halfway up it each time, recover on the descent, repeat… and always, always jockey for position. Breaks went, breaks came back; I went with one break and then dropped my chain and “bridged” back to the peloton with my hand in my chainwheels, cursing at myself (my mechanic). On the last lap I was in what I thought was good position, but then we slowed at the bottom of the descent and I just felt in my stomach the riders surging from behind. I got over to the side and accelerated as they attacked around the sides. I got like 7th wheel and we FLEW up the hill, and, here’s the difference between cat 3 and Pro/1/2 racers: I couldn’t hammer past most of the attackers for a podium spot. I only passed one guy up the ascent to the line and got a gasping, lightheaded 6th.

Now, this is not like other 6th’s where I’m like, shit, I could have done this and won…. These guys are stronger. I could have done a couple things different and maybe finished higher up, but really, shit, I’ll take the 6th. These are the big boys.

Good race, but it started at 8:10pm, and now it’s like 12:30 and I’m totally still rockin’ full gas. Sleep is nowhere nearby.