Athlete Blogs
July 2nd, 2009Nationals Report
The last few weeks have been seriously intense. It seems like every june and july is like that for us. A few of the highlights - I started a new job, kristy went to europe for 10 days, I was driving all over the place racing and preparing for nationals.We drove out to louisville on Sunday morning, just about 12 hrs after she landed stateside from ireland. I was able to pre-ride the TT course a few times and relax before the road race. The weather has been perfect.
The road race was on a super fun, hilly 5 mile circuit which I loved. Unfortunatly my rear derr. and hanger got taken out by a front wheel of a guy behind me. Stupid mistake, ended my race 7 miles into it. I was feeling super and had a very good shot at win in that event. That is racing and I was happy to not be hurt.
The TT: other than the 2 hr delay, which didn't really affect me all that much, it went according to plan. I brought my trutrainer rollers for the warmup, nice and folded up for travel. 15 min easy, 5:00 at race pace, hop off the bike and roll to the line. Just like I did last week in training. The 5 min at race pace part went just like I knew it would - first 90 seconds felt like crap, kept feeling like cutting it short. No way no how. By the end, I was drilling it and feeling great. Solid.
The race went well, I started strong, rode the initial 1.1 mile hill nice and fast, felt good, then settled in for the effort. I knew the course, knew the landmarks, and I kept telling myself to stay safe and do my thing. Nailed the turn around, headed back and really worked it hard. Got to the final 1.1 mile downhill pretty much blown, held on to the finish, streaking down the hill at 44mph. I knew immeidatly two things - I missed the fastest time on teh day by a few seconds, 12 or 13. I also knew i had the fastest time in my group, winning the jersey.
There were a number of awesome rides - I'll post separately on CCT athletes. We had so much fun hanging out with everyone - coach pete, laura, traci, marc, dave toole, and many others. I love the atmosphere and excitement of masters racing. Racing for the pure enjoyment of it. The best of everything, probably the highest concentration of world class TT gear anywhere. Fun stuff.
