Indy Crit ---> A Week Off!

First, a race report - Saturday I drove up and raced the Indy Crit. It was H-O-T. The End.

Just kidding - though temperatures were in the upper 90s with heat index well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit! With a part time race day babysitting gig (practice for ten or fifteen years from now) I didn't get much warm up, but no worries with the heat. I hit the line with 82 other 3/4's and left my extra bottle at the start (bad idea). The start was pretty fast, but moving up wasn't a big deal in the longest headwind stretch and within a few laps I was mixing it up, but not going with any moves just yet. As we crossed the lap line, I reached for my bottle to get a swig of water. No bottle.!.!.! Rachel was watching from the announcer's stand and told me later that my face said it all.... mostly disgusted bad words...

Time to try some of these?

I tried to forget about water and went back to racing, but I got hotter and thirstier and started slipping backward in the field. Next thing I know, I'm not racing, I'm hanging on the back for dear life. I looked at the time and was only 30 minutes into the 45. Somehow I convinced myself to hang on for two more laps, planning to repeat this process to the end. Then, as if it were magic, a bottle of Accelerade or some sports drink appeared in my hand (Thank you AP)!

Then I had ten minutes to get my legs back and move up in the field and hope like hell the two guys off the front got caught - all at the same time. I moved up on the downwind side along the longest stretch each lap from 5 laps to 2 to go. At one to go I found myself on the front, the place I did NOT want to be (Lesson learned) so I pulled off and hopped back in about fifth wheel. With about 300m to go I saw an opening and tried to go on the left while a few guys tried to go right, which meant I took the last turn on the outside. From there I gained one more place, but simply ran out of steam and finished fourth.

Crossing for fourth (Copyright Truesport.com)

To have a pretty terrible day in the saddle and finish fourth of 83 starters - I'm ecstatic! I'm excited to soon make the next step into the 1/2/3's and head into cross season - but first, it's time for a scheduled week off the bike. Starting Sunday, I became a terrible golfer instead of a bike racer - for just one week.

With the heat and no races within several hours drive this coming weekend, the break is coming at a good time. Starting next week I'll begin to ramp things up again with plenty of volume, intervals and some late season crits and hope to have a solid start at Fisherman's Park and then build into November!

Bring on the cooler weather, mud and cowbells....