Sometime Two Is Not A Good Thing

Tuesday night crits and the fun that is max heart rate. I hit 182...my max=175

After not being able to race the crits the past two weeks I was really jazzed to get to the race. The weather was perfect except for a little wind in the back straight of the dreaded "horseshoe" course set up. I figured I would race the C's and the B's since I was so stoked to race. The plan was to race the C's fairly easy and not work then race hard in the B.

We get the call to the line and I take the front middle. I usually stay back but thought what the fuck. We get the whistle and of course everyone lines up behind me. So I decide then and there that this is going to be attack day. We make one lap and I go. Get a small gap then sit up…let a dude pull through…go again…..nose in the wind….sit up….go again…I have a friend in the pack who is a strong female cat 3 and we work together so we start taking turns attacking and holding the pack back…some dickweed keeps sitting in every time we get a gap so she starts giving him crap. I am laughing my ass off as she says "dude, f**king work a little so we can stay away" poor dude just looks at her like she is nuts…then she goes again. It was a blast but we were working very hard playing off the front. The guy the Lauren bitched at would get up front and start doing Kevin Costner American flyer shake and break moves…we looked at each other and said WTF is that all about. I just needed to hear Alexandra Paul yell "WHEEL SUCKER" and the picture would have been set.

We get 5 to go and crazy Ivan goes off the front. He does this every single race…so I jump behind him and American Flyer guy is on my wheel, followed by Lauren. The only person missing was Oregon Duck guy who won last week. I was keeping my eye out for him figuring he would jump. I sit in behind Crazy Ivan and fake a couple of attacks to see if Duck guy would come forward but he didn't take the bait. We were driving hard and had the field in a line. We get the bell I am second wheel, with American Flyer is there and Lauren has slipped back a few spots with Duck guy on her wheel. Just before the head wind section I hear Lauren yell GO! I knew the Duck guy was going. I catch his wheel as we turn into the wind and he is behind crazy Ivan…we hit the short turn section and I am third wheel…I finally am set up for the sprint…we hit the last turn and I get ready to go inside to sprint for the win…but American Flyer guy fucking dives into my line…I pull around and go to the outside around Duck guy and Ivan…fuckstick American Flyer takes the short side and I couldn't get in front of him at the line so I take second. Lauren beats Duck guy for third in the sprint.

Man it was fun controlling the race. I just wish I could have finished it off.

Now the second part.

I literally had about 1 minute to get to the line for the B race. The plan was to tailgate and move up after I recovered a bit. Some dude in the race is an ex-euro pro who rode the Giro back in the day. So of course we get the gun and everyone had to pull it out to prove how big theirs is and we are flying from the gun. I am in the back 5 or 6 which is fine but we are riding like a Duncan yo yo. The pace gets reasonable and I try to move up. I get mid pack and things get nuts again. I am back in the back…this goes on for the whole race…I am about to pull the plug but I see the 5 to go sign and decide to see if I can hang on…we get the bell and I said screw it and go hard trying to move to the front then I swear it was like I got unplugged. You could have heard the pop and I was done…I got on back and cruised in the last 1/3 of a lap eating bar tape. Man it was good but it was so freaking hard.