that sucked

Day 1 of racing of 07 is on the books, and it sucked.

Things started by oversleeping by an hour. After rushing to the race, things were backed up an hour so all was good. Said hi to Miller and Jeff (unh) kids

2.75 mile flat TT. slight breeze. tt's aren't my thing. I got in a great warmup, stayed on the trainer till the last minute and was one of the last guys to go. Guy behind me graduated from colby a few years back. 20 second intervals. My head isn't really in it untill im clicked in and on the line, but when that happens its go time and my body all of a sudden is "on". I set out at a good pace, spinning ~ 100rpm, fell fine, legs fell o.k. no real burn, but they dont feel great. Hit the turn around fine, don't mess it up, get up to speed, forearms on the bars, spinning good, all of a sudden, the guy who was behind me is next to me. I turn it up a notch, and he disappears. I almost take a wrong turn, costing me 1-3 seconds, but so does guy behind me. Get to the 500m to go spot, still feeling strong. 250m to go, uh-oh, my legs are starting to hurt, my breathing is gone, and im feeling iffy. 100m to go I blow. Guy who was behind me comes flying by, I get out of the saddle and giv'er, and finish wheel and wheel with him. So I clearly couldn't have won. I think my time was about 7:13, will know official results tmrw. I think I avg'd ~ 22.8 mph, which isnt bad for a non-aero tt with roughly 5-10mph of wind, for a non-tt guy. I was actaully pretty happy that I paced myself better than I normally do.

Cool down, drive to the crit spot. Pre-ride, warm up, get a few calories in me. Feel ok still. Say hi to Katie (tufts) and Emily (bu). 2nd row, outside start to the crit. I'm not even in my pedals when I hear someone go down behind me (and then a few more) out of the start. I get in and people start to drill the pace. Group is cut in half. End of the first lap, come out of the corner, and next thing I know the guy in front of me is upside down. I have a half second to think, wow, this is going to suck, as I try to brake/swerve, but with nowhere to go I lay it down. I am fine, back up before the second group has passed us. I take my free lap, along with one other guy (everyone was fine). But i was pissed, i was riding 7-8th wheel and there was a crash. I thought I would be fine up front, but no. We re-start, I am totally mentally out of it and trying not to crash, slip off, sit up, work with the first group to catch me. Repeat the process till I am solo off the back, sit up and get pulled with 4 to go (12 or 13 laps, i forget). I am not really pissed, I was totally fine, my bike was fine, etc etc, but it was a downer. Then again, i'm not really built for crits. Cool down, watch Rose (colby teammate) take 2nd in the womens b crit (her first ever) along with a preem or two, get emily's (bu) jacket at the womens a start, cheer for people, and now I'm ready for dinner and bed. Also saw jak and alex (unh). It was fun, I'm glad im ok and didn't get hurt (knock on wood), put in some good turns with chase groups, but still a blah race. It happens though.

I know i'm not much of a tt/crit racer, but lets hope tmrw's circuit is a bit better (and maybe a hill or two). It was super nice to be out in the sun in 60 degrees with short sleeves on this morning, with only armwarmers for the crit. Beats maine, if nothing else.