Last Wednesday (16 July) I was feeling a little ill starting around noon or so and it lasted until around noon on Thursday (17 July). Consequently I skipped the group ride last Thursday night in order to regain my health a little bit. I then stayed off the bike until Sunday when I went out for a little interval session at George Wyth State Park to see how the legs were doing. It was okay but I could still feel a little bit of the sluggishness creeping around so I kept the ride at just over 60 minutes and returned home. Monday was off the bike and last night's plan was to participate in the group ride. The weather looked as though it was not going to cooperate and I was actually planning on staying home until I received a phone call at around 5:20pm (ride starts at 6:00pm) from J. Fry asking if I was going to go. It was one of those calls that made me think about why I was not going.
Potential for rain? Poor excuse. Everyone benefits from the group ride and the more the merrier so I decided to go. Now, I had about 30 minutes to get the legs going and I could tell right away that they were not going to cooperate without a little push.
Group ride saw six riders there (where the heck is everyone?!?!?!?) with one of those being a rider from the "B" group which was nowhere to be found. We ended up waiting an additional 15 minutes while Houlihan had a rear tire fixed and then made our way through Cedar Falls enroute to Union Rd. where we headed North towards Finchford. This route would guarantee that we stayed away from any chance of rain which made everyone smile. It only took a few miles before I was fighting with my legs to get going and I found myself off the back by around 30 meters or so. J. Fry was kind enough to drop back and bridge me back to the small group early on. I did everything I could on the way to Finchford to stay with them and was doing fine until we began up Three-Tier Hill when I went off the back again. Thankfully, everyone was slowed down at the bridge on the other side of the hill and I was able to get back on. We pretty much stayed together for a few miles as we made our approach to Janesville and just like a switch turning on, I could feel the energy surge back to my legs. Finally!!!! Only took 90 minutes to get 'em warmed up to operating temperature. Sheessh.
As we left Janesville to the East, the pace slowly made it's way up until we were cruising along in the high 20s with the nest sprint sign about 3 miles away. I told myself not to worry about it but, the devil inside me said to take it. Not just go for it but, TAKE it. So I sat on Houlihan's wheel until about the 300 meter mark when Chad came by on the left side and started to sprint ahead. I never came out of the saddle, I just put as much power to the ground as I could which allowed me to catch, pass, and drop him. After cruising past the sprint sign I decided to pull a "J. Fry" and continued around the corner and up the next hill where I took a glance back to see where the other four were at. J. Fry realized what I was doing and quickly bridged back to me while the next three were about 400 meters back. I wasn't sure if I could keep it going so I kind of let off just a touch but, as soon as J. Fry caught up I decided to see how long we could stay away.
We were working really well together and I took a couple of glances back in the first few miles to see how we were doing. The other three were staying right there at around 400 meters still. The next sprint went uncontested between J. Fry and myself as we continued to focus on getting away. One last real hill and it was nothing but decreasing rollers for the last five miles to Waterloo from there. J. Fry pulled me over that hill and then we really started to lay the hammer down after that. Speeds were staying in the 27ish moh range most of the way back which, upon checking our progress with about two miles to go, had given us 800+ meters ahead of the second group. Needless to say I was feeling A LOT better by then. As we closed in on the final sprint, J. Fry surprised the heck out of me by telling me that he was going to lead me out for a little sprint practice. Say what? Okay. He picked up and held the pace at around 30mph or so and then I came around at around 200 meters to go and maxed out on my cassette (53-13). It was good thing to do to get any remaining sludge in my legs back out. Man that felt great.
I was definitely glad that I didn't stay home due to potential rain and greatful to J. Fry for the work that he did to keep me in the ride last night. Thanks buddy!!!! The
Iowa State Road Race Chamionships are this coming Saturday in West Branch and last night's ride was just what I needed to get the motivation set. Short, easy spin today and probably some interval work during the group ride on Thursday to make sure all is ticking over just right. I'm feeling pretty good and I really hope that my results will show it this weekend.
Cyclocross season is on the horizon and I am eagerly awaiting it's arrival. I have this new CX bike that is itching to get on course but, I have one small problem which I hope does not come back to bite me. I am putting the frameset up for sale in anticipation of something with a slightly longer toptube. All that I have done with the X-Fire is build it up, rode it for a few break-in road rides that have totalled 130 miles and parked it. No racing. No crashes. No hard rides.
See it here and let me know if you are interested.
Read the complete post at http://carlosdajackal.blogspot.com/2008/07/getting-ready-for-state.html