Not quite keeping my head above water lately, I threw a little more gasoline on the fire Wednesday by adding the 6 pm Wednesday Night Worlds on top of my usual morning ride. The weather was beautiful as I rode home from work, but a stiff wind was telling me that my first lakefront training race of the year would not be as accommodating as I'd have liked. A quick change of clothes at home and I was out the door a few minutes after 5:30, figuring I'd probably miss the start. That was fine with me since I could jump in on the second of four laps and avoid the first lap attacks. Fortunately, or unfortunately as the case may be, Jordan appeared beside me halfway to the lakefront, and as I latched onto his slightly faster wheel I thought, "this is messing up my plan to miss the first lap!"
As it turned out, the first lap was fine. It was fairly fast, of course, but I was feeling OK and not at all concerned about he pace. We weren't halfway into the second lap, however, when I found myself dropping back on the windward side after taking a pull to close a small gap and unable to find shelter until I was nearly at the end of a long string of riders in the gutter. Up ahead, the gap had grown dangerously as the lead group chased Woody who I think had taken off solo after the fountain traffic circle. Finally a few people took up the chase and we formed a little group trying to get back in contact with the lead group. I was with Brian and Little Jorge and we were later joined by Judd and another rider who needed remedial sessions in paceline behavior. For that matter, Brian wasn't really with the program either. Every time we'd hit one of the little climbs over the levee Brian would basically attack, usually dropping whoever had just come off the front, and then he'd take a really long pull. After a lap or two we had gotten ourselves within striking distance of the group, but then another surge blew our group apart once again and the gap opened up quickly after that. Brian eventually dropped back after spending so much time in the wind, and halfway through the last lap the others disappeared too, so I just time trialed in the rest of the way. It was a pretty good workout anyway, but a little frustrating because we could have easily gotten back into the group with a bit more cooperation.
This morning it was considerably cooler as I rode out to the levee in the dark for the Thursday morning ride. The group was a little thin, but after a few miles Woody started pushing the pace up. I was clearly feeling the double workout I'd had the day before, so I was taking only short pulls. Even so, we were losing riders the whole time, and after Woody and some others turned back at the little dip we were left with only three, so we decided to turn around at the big dip a few miles ahead. After the turnaround Brian went to the front and just motored at 20 mph into the headwind almost all the way back.
Hopefully I will be able to put in a more normal training week mileage-wise. Things are hopping at work lately, and this is the time of year when I get the most calls and emails from race promoters and riders, so time is short and I'm a little tired.....
No comments:
Post a Comment