Can I get a WOT WOT

So, Tuesday night I did the Pseudo Mead crit series at the Wheels of Thunder course, up on Table Mountain. The course is set on a Police driving training course. It's a flat fun race and a great opportunity to get some mid-week intensity in, now that Cherry Creek is over. Other than Deer Trail, this is my first NON-TT specific race this year. It is only a training race, but I used it also as an opportunity to get my crit/pack skills back since I haven't done much in the way of racing yet. It was a beautiful sunny day, with slight winds out of the west, which makes the course a bit unpredicatable as to where to sit in the group to stay protected. I usually give it a lap or two to find the spots, then I concsiously try to get there prior to hitting the wind. The race was hard....I ain't gonna lie. It was my first real interval session of +LT work for the most part. I've done a lot more steady state stuff to get ready for TT's rather than prepping across all disciplines. Don't get me wrong..it was a welcomed change! Anyway, the rac was mostly fellow 4s with a few 35+4s as well as some 45+ guys in there mixing it up. The thing with this race is that they have sprint points every other lap, so it's a VERY surgey race. With that in mind, I started to hurt about halfway through, and started to drift back a bit in the pack...something I did NOT want to do. With that in mind, I simply pumped it to the front of the group and sat in a good spot. At one point I got impatient and just jumped off the front for about 30 seconds. I wanted to see if I could do it, and I did, but I sat up very quickly since I didn't want to really waste too much energy. Plus, I was heading straight into the headwind section and I would have been gobbled up quickly! On the final lap, I was positionaed in the top 10 going into the final corner, and everyone started setting up for the sprint. Guys were getting into leadout trains, while others were dying to hold on. A group of about 5 jumped off the front, then there were 2-3 guys in between the main group and this small little group. I got out of the saddle in the final straightaway and started to ramp it up by changing my gears into a good sprint gear. The gap was growing every so quickly between myself and that group of 5 up front, so, I shifted into a bigger gear, and was able to close a huge gap in the final 100m then had to sit up rather than try to swing around and pip the line since everyone would be coming up behind quickly. I finished somewhere in the 5/6/7 range, which is great for the ole confidence, but more importantly it was super fun! It felt good to get back out there and really suffer...and be able to survive. It's such a different feeling than in a TT, because you're really just suffering against yourself, vs suffering with everyone else. It's hard to explain the difference, but either way, I feel much better about it. I accomplished my goals for the race, and, the placement made it all the more sweeter.

Going into this weekends Rist Canyon Road Race I have more confidence than I did, say, a week ago, which is good. I know that climbing isn't my specialty, however, I'm still going to do my best. Whatever time I may lose going up, I'll try to minimize my losses on the downhiills, and attempt to get into a group to ride some wheels. Basically, just fight the best fight I can. Then, there's Sunday's crit which is pretty pancake flat, and, a good course to sit in maintain until the closing laps. My teammate Josh lives up in FC and he's a sicko climber. We're hoping he can do well at the RR to get a W or good shot on his home turf. Then, Sunday, if he does the crit, set him up for the win. So, I might be worker be, but that's fine...I'll be racing!