| Comments: | I was pretty worried going into this race as I have not really done any training these last two weeks and feel like my form is already slipping. One evening at Cycle University does not a good training week make.
We had a short moment of stress as we pulled into the Edmonds ferry line which was backed up WAY up the hill… We started doing calculations seeing how long it would take to drive to downtown Seattle and catch that ferry or drive all the way around and then luckily the boat ahead of ours was just delayed, filled up and the line moved. So we only missed one boat which meant we arrived at the start with about 30 minutes to spare – just enough to get registered, changed, hit the head and spin down the road and back once.
In attendance today were Todd G, Dave H, Corrie M, Kurt B and me. Not bad. Cucina had about eight riders! Total field size was only about 30 again but there were a couple of new faces including Ivan M from OR who has been doing quite well so far this year.
No neutral rollout today. There were a couple of accelerations prior to the first hill and then after the descent and the right turn some Cucina guy goes, Ivan goes with and Corrie is in the best position to follow so does. Nice.
At this point I need to fess up and admit that I turned to Todd and said with what must have been a worried tone, "Hey, Corrie isn't going to last up there…" but we dutifully jumped on the wheels of attempts to bridge and then Cucina got all over the front and blocked hard so we were relieved of duty so to speak.
One lap later the pace was extremely pedestrian and the gap was already up to two minutes so I turned to Todd again and said, "You know, one of us should really get up the road…" Todd was like, "Okay, I'll go." and immediately shot off the front like a bullet from a gun. Alone. Into the headwind.
It did not look too promising and Cucina kinda chased for a while but the gap slowly started to grow. One lap later in about the same spot on the headwind straight I surged but was chased down by Cucina pronto. Dave countered nicely and got away with a Cucina rider and a Garage rider and luckily Kurt as well!
As they were riding away my frustration was peaking and just then Harley S turned to me and said, "Martin, what are you doing back here?" Nice. I dropped back to the end of the line, took a couple of deep breaths and went as hard as I could. This time no one was able to go with me and in short order I was up with Dave and Kurt. I had to miss one rotation but then caught my breath and we were off.
Half a lap later we caught Todd who had been soft pedaling for a while and who immediately went to the front and upped the pace. So now it was four IJM riders and two others. At first we all pulled but shortly the Garage rider quit and then the Cucina rider missed his turn pretty frequently. It threw us off more than it should have. Looking back they were under no obligation to work and we should have just done the pulling ourselves or attacked again. For the time being we chose to work and drug them around for another lap.
At which point the gap was 2:40! Damn it. Now we realized the break was gone since there were only 1.5 laps to go. As we hit the headwind Dave was behind me and suddenly I heard, "Go Martin go!" So I did. I was chased down by Garage and Cucina but again Dave countered nicely and was away. Within about 10 seconds Todd was gone in pursuit.
So, my die was cast and I got to ride the train for a change. Good thing too because about one lap ago my stomach had started feeling really weird and my legs were not feeling stellar at all. Far from it actually. I had to miss a couple of turns in the rotation as a matter of fact. But now as I watched Todd and Dave ride away I got to sit behind Cucina and Garage and sip my bottle and recover. It was beautiful.
With one lap to go Todd and Dave were way down the road and the chase was obviously not going to catch them so I started figuring out where I could make my move to separate myself from these two. I gambled and decided that Cucina looked stronger (turns out I was wrong) and so with just over 1 km to and right after Cucina pulled off and went to the back I dropped back a tad, got a running start and went by as hard as I could.
I flew through the last right hand corner so fast that I got close to the corner marshal. :) Then it was head down and pace myself to the finish. I snuck one look back and I had a huge gap so was able to ease off the throttle and coast across the line.
So we got 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th today! Not bad at all and I will never doubt Corrie's ability to hang in there again. Next time we'll have two in the first break and we'll do even better.
Although my endurance/long-term power felt like crap today each attack felt much better than last week. I was faster for sure. I guess I need to train at least some mid week… |