Bethlehem / Masters

These boys know how to handle their bikes. Many of them have been racing hard for years, some of them still competing at the Pro/1/2 level (results). They also know how wring the juice out of a lemon, and I was that lemon.

For most of the race I was near the front but not at the front. It's a little fuzzy but I think there was a split, twice. I remember riding hard with some fellows off the front and the loudspeakers announcing we had a 35 second lead over the main field. It felt great until somehow the field caught up to us.

Then there was another split. This happened at around 30 minutes into the 50 minute crit. I wasn't in it - but desperately wanted to be. We chased hard and there was some good blocking by a big guy with a team mate up the road. He would gap off the front, get others to chase him, then he'd slow the fuck down and so would everyone else.

The second break was brought back by a strong field in the final 2-3 laps. There was a (very) short breather and then the chaos started in earnest as riders battled, attacked, and jockied for their position. I imploded on the last lap from the intensity and the field came around me.

It was a very hard effort and the reward may be some super compensation along with fatigue. Average HR was 177 for 50 minute race, average speed was 25.9 mph.

What the hell do these damn numbers mean anyway? I want to kill my bike computer. I don't remember ever looking at it during the race anyway.

Lesson: It's more satisfying to race hard and loose by a mile than to race conservatively and "almost" win.