Better

Yesterday was installment three in my return to bike racing. To recap, week one was a little better than I expected, week two was a lot worse. Going into week 3 I wasn't sure what to expect. It was a beautiful day, none of the wind that made week 2 so difficult.

The race before mine was held up 30-40 minutes because of crashes in the previous race. Our race was then held up 15-20 additional minutes because of crashes in the race that was held up by crashes in the previous race, yes there were lots of crashes.

Finally our race got started, and it felt like there was a lot of nervousness in the pack. I think it was the second lap when the rider in front of me worked himself into a position he shouldn't have, then got skittish and started to panic, then crashed. At least that's how it looked to me. Fortunately (for me) he fell to his left, had he fallen to the right he would have taken me out as well. There was a lot of contact in the group this week, but most everyone handled it well.

The laps were fast, but not blistering, and they were fairly predictable. Fast enough that no one seemed like they'd be able to get away for long. I felt pretty comfortable hanging out towards the rear of the pack and watching the laps tick down.

With one lap remaining, I decided to move up to position myself better for the sprint. Moving up was a little easier than I anticipated and I found myself at the front going into turn 2, coming out of turn two I could see by the shadows that I didn't have anyone on my wheel. At this point I had two options, sit up and wait to jump back in the pack and try for a bunch sprint or put the hammer down and see what happened. I went with option 2. About half way down the back stretch I saw someones shadow coming up on my wheel and knew I was doomed, but I couldn't tell if it was one guy or if he brought the whole pack, so I kept it going. At least I was going to make some people work, and it would likely string out the pack to ease congestion going through turn four and to the line. Coming out of turn three I was still driving things but knew I couldn't keep it up to the line. Then someone came by on the right, when I tried to jump over to him, there wasn't much left and a group came by on the right and I knew I was done. I probably crossed the line somewhere in the 10-15 range.

It wasn't a win but at least I could leave the race knowing I was a part of it. I'm fairly sure I influenced the outcome. It's a great place to build from.

Big thanks to Velo Promo for putting on the Early Bird series and to all the mentors and volunteers that made it possible.

I'm on a waiting list for next Sunday in Napa, we'll see what happens.

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Reading through Salon.com, this article caught my eye. And for some reason it made me think of this: