Miles of DisComfort

The course at Flat Rock Ranch is always tough. Yesterday was no exception, but when your feeling good it always makes it a bit more enjoyable. To make conditions worse, there was a cold north wind blowing all day that kept the temps. down, but at least it was dry.
I had a front row call up for the start that I totally squandered when I slipped a pedal as the gun went off, dropping me back to about 25th. Luckily, there was a long jeep road start so I was able to fight back up to about 15th or so before we hit the single track.
I was able to test the legs early as we got into some of the many short technical climbs that would define this day. Clearly this would be where I would make my moves the rest of the race, because I felt great powering up those climbs.
The first 20 or so miles I rode in the front of a group of five that was in 11-15th place(the course marshall's let us know what place we were in at one of the sections). Once we got to steeper, more technical climbs I would punch it hard, trying to get a gap. It worked for a while, but those guys are great descenders, because they would reel me back in on the longer downhills.
At the halfway point, the legs still feeling strong and really in no distress, I continued to ride hard to drop the group and it worked. The rest of the race I spent time running down those in front of me instead of worrying about those behind. Heading back out for the last "upper loop" of the course, I was in 10th and closing in.
Caught 9th on the first big climb from the feed zone and pushed him up through the top, where he pulled over and let me by. On the upper flats, I kept it hammered. I saw that 8th was only about a minute ahead, and tried to pace myself, but the anticipation was too much for me. Caught up to him fairly fast, and he picked up the pace when he saw me. So I settled in and tried to make him work hard as we set out on the next climb. I followed over the climb and down the other side, but as it opened up on one of the short flats he had nothing left and let me by. Moved into 8th with about 8 miles remaining. No one else to catch that I could see, but didn't want to get caught on the downhills and flats, so I rode strong (and smart) to the finish.
Ended up 8th overall,but 1st in the 30-39 open at 4hrs 18min. We ascended just over 4500ft in 52 miles. The 2nd place guy in the series was 4th in class, so I lenghtened my lead in the series with 2 to go.
All race long I felt great. I always was able to push hard without feeling like I was in distress. 2 months into my program with Sara, I am really seeing the effects of a structured and effective program.
Also need to give props to my crew. Eddie was once again a huge help with bottle hand offs and the oh so important hand off of SportLegs at the 3hr mark. And yes, there was a keg tapped at the finish. Eddie was very excited!
Forgot the camera, but there was a photographer at the race, so I'll try to post some action shots later.
Next up......Mas O Menos Feb 14th.

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