A pair of 7's

Data from my 2nd race of the day

The blog lives! A new season of bike racing is upon us, which means that the blog can re-invigorate! I was supposed to be in a work retreat all day today...but I managed to escape it after the morning so I would not miss the first crit of the year, our local Mothballs!

My time was very limited today, so I had gone over earlier and registered for my 2 races before work. Then I went to the retreat, and escaped just in time to rush back and get a quick spin on the trainer before my first race, which also happened to be my first 1/2/3 crit as well. I was in such a hurry that I forgot my bike computer, which is all fine and good, but that meant I had no idea what time it was in the race! Oops...I was racing blind, so to speak, until the 5 laps to go came out! I just wish I had the data from that race...it was a blast. Everyone is so smooth, and fast, and knows how to corner, and it was fun. I was kind of sad I missed the key break when a couple girls got off the front, but honestly I'm not sure I would have been able to hand on up there anyway! I ended up finishing in the pack, and having timed my sprint a little wrong (I haven't sprinted since last August....), I wasn't quite there but pulled of a 7th, about 1/2 a bike length back. Oh well....room for improvement! I was pretty pleased with how my legs felt under me. They actually had a little jump when needed, which is good! It was a fun time for sure.
In the interest of good old training, I decided to do the 3/4's race as well. For this race, my tactics were different. I wanted to stay out of trouble, and work hard and get a good workout. So my goal going in was to be a player in this race, not just to sit in and let it happen around me. I spent lots of time up front, put in a few attacks, and chased down everything that got away. I was pretty happy with the way I felt...my legs were getting a little fatigued by the end, but overall I was happy with my race. After being way too far back in the final corner, I worked hard to get up there, but again the sprint timing isn't quite there, and I again finished 7th, this time it was just a field sprint. A pair of 7s. By the 2nd race, I had time to go get the computer, so I have data. What a huge difference between this year's race and last years Mothballs crit! Anyway, it was a fun day. I had lots of fellow Chicken Ranchers in many of the races, so there were lots of folk to cheer for, and I got lots of support when I was racing. It was a very fun day.

Echelon Santa Barbara put on the race, and they did a fantastic job! Congrats everyone!

Ciao!