I raced the M35+ time trial and circuit in Perry on Saturday. I didn't expect much, and not much is pretty much what I found. But I had a great time just being at a race again and watching some teammates pin it on. Chad, Trey C., John, Eddie, and Jake had solid races. And I was thrilled to see my wife, Betty Jean, win the W3/4 time trial.
My TT felt odd more than painful - a bad sign. Usually I have segments of a TT where I can really feel myself getting on top of the gear and in the groove, but I never settled into that rythem on Saturday. And the old familiar pain wasn't there. But I think it'll be back soon enough.
I had no clue what to expect in my circuit race. I actually felt pretty good for the first couple of laps in the field of 20 or so, at which point I convinced myself that my original goal of just sitting in, gathering a few race miles, and finishing anywhere in the group was not really a satisfactory goal. So when a group of 4 or 5 riders got off the front in lap 3, I made my brilliant move: I decided to bridge. Call it mission creep. The first 20 seconds of my semi-sprint-bridge attempt actually wasn't so bad. But when John Atkins and the group behind me decided to counter-surge (which was simple considering I never broke their elastic and probably didn't stretch it much) my legs were nowhere to be found. I was immediately gapped. I gave it one more hard push to catch the wheel of Davies, who was holding on to the chase group for dear life. I got there about the time we turned into the wind. I fought for a few more minutes 'till I lost Chad's wheel and saw it was hopeless -- then I turned off the course to get a steady hour of tempo on back roads.
Chad actually fought back solo to the main chase group and finished 2nd in M45+. Just goes to show that you can sometimes grind your way back from what appears to be a hopeless situation if you stay on the gas.
I'll give it another try in Union City.
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