I kicked off my '09 campaign last weekend at the CSU crit. Me and crits have never gotten along all that well but I'm working on it. At the very least, I wanted to go out and support one of the few local Fort Collins races. I even worked registration all morning.
The beginning of the race was a cluster-fuck of people trying to clip into pedals. We're all rusty, so that's forgivable. A bunch of people zoomed past me as I was stuck behind people getting clipped in. I was probably in the top 10-15 as we got to the first corners and there was some pretty sketchy bike-handling and cornering skills. I saw some people taking some dangerous lines and braking into and through (!!!) corners. Scary stuff. The sound of squealing brakes on carbon wheels is not a sound I enjoy. I feel like it sort of took me out mentally and I just ended up letting myself drift to the back.
Riding at the back of a crit is hard work. The speed surges are killer, but at least I could play with different lines through corners without getting in anyone's way. As the race wore on, I found myself having to close lots of gaps around people that were getting dropped. Eventually the rubberband that was holding me on to the back of the pack broke and I lost contact on the last lap.
Not exactly a stellar results, but I got in a good workout and I finished rubber side down. It felt good to be out racing again, regardless of what shape I'm in right now.
I wish I could have been there for the first race of the season, but I'm glad we're going together to the Mad Cow. :)
ReplyDeleteI don't know how "mad" the Mad Cow will be this year for my lazy ass. Maybe more of a mildly ill-mannered cow.
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