25 July 2007: Ninigret Criterium Domination

Pretty happy with the way it went down last night. I missed the start of the race due to unforeseen delays, but only by about 5 minutes.. Upon arrival, all I had to do was shed my pants, put on my shoes and helmet, attach front wheel and water bottle. This all occurred in about 30 seconds flat, I kid you not. A run up to the sign-in and I was ready to go within one lap of arrival, and I jumped in there on the next fly-by.. (Seems I missed only two laps) Our team had four riders represented. It was a fast race, averaging 26.6 mph and it wasn't long before a break developed and opened a gap. Initially, I spied one Union Velo kit up the road, but later discovered there were actually two. At first I took about 3-4 laps to rest, because just before this latest attack/break, I was up front making myself work.. to the point where I got that tingly sensation in the legs, from the ankles to the knees.. Ever feel that? It means you're in oxygen debt.. Watching people thrash themselves at the front to shut down this break motivated me to add to the effort. That, and I didn't want to see my average watts drop much below 250.. So I went to work. This is a training race after all, and the team mate who I knew was up the road often tells us to chase chase chase no matter what. Get what we came for- training. So by the time there was only one lap to go, I can assure you that myself and about 4-5 others, including a TargetTraining guy, a Benidorm guy (Gary), a GearWorks guy and others, were the main contributors to the average speed of the field. With about 3 laps to go, I cooled my jets a little bit, took some recovery shelter, then started moving to the front in stealth mode. By the time we were on the semi-final straightaway, after the last sharp left-hander, I had a clear opening on the left side of the field and I accelerated. Hearing "Left! Left! Left!" put a grin on my face.. because I know that I'm not exactly a person who is marked for such performance or behavior. I couldn't have planned it better. My jump wasn't nuclear explosive.. it was a more deliberate, metered effort at first.. wanted it to last all the way to the line. I went from 25 to 34 mph in about 10 seconds, according to my chart. Someone on my wheel said "Go! Go! Go!", don't know who, but it helped to get me commited.. I led the field around the sweeping left hander before the long finish, and then made sure to get on top of the gear completely, full gas, all the way to the line. The speed shown on the chart speaks for itself.. I accelerated and nailed the top speed almost the whole way, seated except fo the initial jump. Lost only 1 mph in the final 10-20 meters and only 3 guys came around me- one of which was a team mate. By this time we were on the heels of the breakaway.. so close. (The chart shows you the final minute of racing) Pretty sure one of our Union boys took the win, and the rest of us all in the top 10 or 11. Can't complain about that.. it's a pretty good example of domination. Already looking forward to next week. Thanks for reading.