MaxPowerCycling

Started out a little chilly but by the time the Masters 35+/Junior Field got to the starting line the sun came out and warmed things up a bit
We had 5 MaxPowerCycling Members in my race (Scott G, Noel B, Marcello P, Wayne M, and Rich Jarvi)
The race started out pretty slow compared to all the other races I’ve been to…
I was talking to Marcello about an early attack (I was egging him on)
I started to move to the front to attack then, Marcello attacked(1) and I grabbed his wheel
We rode off into the sunset and won…………..kinda…………….ok…….not so much
But we had a good 15-20 seconds on the main group then 2 other guys caught us
While in the break we encountered a mini hill and I attacked(2) and kept the gap until about halfway up the first hill
Some guy caught up to me
He was from Chris’s Cookies and I said “Hey whats our plan”
He said we would most likely get caught, but if we worked together we could stay ahead
I asked about the guy on his teammate behind us and he said that he was’nt a good climber but he would catch up
So he continued to power up the hill and i just said to myself “I’m not going to kill myself on this hill” and went up it nice and easy
The guy then had about a ten second gap on me and I tried to catch up but I failed
I was flying solo for a while then the group eventually caught me before the “Wall”
I noticed none of my teammates were in the field that caught me, and I thought maybe Noel took a bunch of people out for me
I grabbed a wheel… I was feeling pretty good so I attacked(3) again before the wall so I didn’t get dropped
Again I took it nice and easy up the hill but they caught me and I was in the back of the pack when the hill was finished
I regained some energy and the pace was still slower than what I would have liked to be going so I attacked(4)
I think they got the idea because they caught up and they were going considerably faster
At the 3 mile to go mark we encountered a mud/dirt covered road and I felt good so I attacked(5)
I had a good 10 second gap on them but I let them reel me
I was thinking “I can tire them by attacking constantly before the last hill and i’ll have a chance at getting a decent place.”
So I attacked(6) as 2 other people tried to break off
We held the attack until about the 20 Mile mark when out of nowhere my left calf tightened up and I couldn’t move it
It hurt so bad I thought the world was going to end
I was pretty pissed because we had 2 miles to go and all that work was for nothing
So I decided to at least make it to the finish
I unclipped the immobile leg and started pedaling with my right leg
Some of the marshals were giving me weird looks as I rounded the corner with one leg unclipped
I was actually going at a decent speed of around 22mph
Then I was thinking I could have stayed with the pack if I immediately went to the back and unclipped that one leg…
But I eventually made it to the base of the finishing hill and I clipped in the other leg cause I was going to need it to get up the hill
That hill was the worst climb I’ve ever done because I was only using one leg to push and it was steep!!
I sprinted to the finish(7) (luckily my calf didn’t tighten up again) and as soon as i got far enough away from the line i put my bike down and stretched
I then waited for my other teammates and we rode down the hill and got to eat these huge cookies that were pretty tasty!
I got to talk to Eli the other junior, and he was a really nice kid
He sugested that I do a few of the races he was going to do and I think I will
I also got a lot of helpful advice from teammates about what to eat, drink, etc before the race
And also about some racing tactics (which I could always use)
I felt I was a little too aggressive and could have conserved more energy for the climbs
All in all I had fun doing this race but it was unfortunate that my leg cramped up
(attack count of 7)<– probably why
Great race everyone!!!