Let me first pay proper respect to the men and women who've died for our right to freely publish blogs and live in this great country of ours. To them we owe a lifetime of gratitude and then some.
While we all enjoyed this marvelous weekend here and abroad, I'm happy to announce that there will be no EPO scandal emerging from the streets of Lancaster County, PA. At least not from my camp anyway. You see, EPO allegations usually come on the heels of 9+ min leads and sub human ascents over 15KM. Not here, not today. Why you may ask?
I suspect that while I did manage to work the front of Saturday's 4/5 race for nearly 2 laps and manage to put together a feeble break with my teammate, I did what every bike racer fears next to crashing...
I bonked and I bonked hard.
Yes, Granny give me all you got. After razzing you about proper fueling and calorie deficits, I hit the wall and kept going right through it. After working with a 15 yr old teammate that possibly will go pro (I'm not kidding here), I completely pulled my ripcord in lap 6. We're talking not turning the crank here. Meanwhile, this kid is 15 and working the front of 4/5 races 6 out of 7 laps. He's awesome and provided he's coached properly, we may be hearing about him on the domestic circuit.
Last race 6th, this race? You got it, dead last. I even started to pull over to quit the race but Lance's words clanged in my head: Pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever. I kept going. With each painful stroked I was reminded of my new training lesson: Rest 3 days before a race. IT WORKS.
Either way, it looked to be a great cycling weekend for all! Well, except the entire pro peloton maybe.
Cheers.
2 comments:
No razzin from this end, as I've mentioned, I've done it too many times to count. I here you about proper nutrition and hydration, but when you're "in it" it takes a conscious decision to keep the fuel topped off, which when you're leading or feeling good you don't have a good gauge.
I'll throw out the Gel-Got thing again as its an easy vehicle for both gels and liquid; no more having to reach in the rear pockets for gels as they are already in the bottle.
So you ended up the domestique on the day...did you're teammate at least win it...or place well?
Domestique for sure!
Here's the other rub...the ogranizers called the race one lap short and somehow forgot to tell, that's right, the racers. It was, I kid you not, a sprintless finish.
As a result, Zach finished 18th overall. Which is in no way was indicative of his performance. He was hanging back to put together a nice finish and got sucker punched.
He and I will be race training together over the next several weeks as I think we have a great team dynamic. We have 2 coming up in the next few weeks so stay tuned.
Post a Comment