Thanks guys.. even more suffering today, without the glorious comeback
2013-03-16 Circuit Race; 6 laps; 33 miles; 2,300' of climbing.
I suspected this race would be fast, as the sprinter (and overall fast guy) I mentioned was sitting in third, and Ex's teammates, the only teammates in the race) were further down. There was some pre-race whispering between the three of them, which I didn't fail to notice. Sure enough, someone takes off at the whistle, and the race is on. The first lap really took it out of me. My Garmin said the average power for the lap was over my FTP, and it was the fastest lap I've done on that course by far. There is a sweeping right hand bend on the fast section: we took it over 40, and I had to use the entire lane. We were sitting on the 45+ group's ass (started a minute ahead) until they finally lit it up a bit after that.
Coming around for the lap 2 climb, I was drained, and fell off. Once again I buried myself, and caught the pack (solo) at the start of lap 3. But there was just no time to recover from that before we went uphill again. I was dropped, this time for good.
I did the best I could to maintain a decent pace, but was sorely tempted to pack it in, when three guys caught me, and we started working together - sort of. They were some of the guys I pulled to the pack yesterday, and as we started climbing, I said "If you guys drop me on this climb, I'll never forgive you. Don't tase me, bro's". We stuck together that lap. 2 of them did gap me a bit the next climb, but I caught back up.
On the last lap, we were passed by the 35+. One of the guys, naturally one who never really pulled (a tri-guy to boot), attached himself to the 35+ pack. The rest of us stayed back. Moto ref was right behind them, and we decided that, if the moto didn't penalize him, we'd say something, because it sucked. He fell back, but don't know if it was because the moto called him on it or not. I decided not to make an issue of it after the race. The moto was right there, and I decided it was his call.
So, I finished, way back from the pack, in our little chase group. I had done the bulk of the pulling again, and I didn't push hard at the finish, letting the other guys contest it. I seem to have that moderate diesel sort of power still, but there is a distinct upper limit on that power. So pulling on the flats is something I can do right now, but climbing is, as Keb' Mo' sings, "A Whole Nutha Thing".
This race wasn't as 'squirrely' as yesterday's, thankfully, but there was some fun stuff right in front of me. One of the guys who hadn't been exactly holding a tight line had a guy put a hand gently on his hip as he weaved towards the guy, who was on the yellow line. He told him he was all over the place, which he was, but the guy responded that he was holding his line within inches, and he moved over on the guy again. They got into a shoulder and elbow shoving match, until the moto rode up.
A bunch of grumpy old men, except my little chase group - that turned into a fun little workout. The two guys who gapped me on the climb told me it was the first time anyone called them mountain goats, because when I caught them, I said "Bastard mountain goats!". Actually there an explicative preceding that. :-)
Oh, and our GC winner was a worthy champion. After gaining two minutes yesterday to take the jersey, he responded to attack after attack, personally pulling the pack, and then won the race.