3-day stage race. I got a dismal 7th in the prologue TT.
The crit later that day was fast, but I wasn't feeling as fast as the main guys, so I decided to just stay with the field. We shelled half the field, but I made all the splits and managed to watch the finish as I made it across the line. My teammate from last year got the W.
Road Race yesterday. Super hilly. 66 miles. 10+ miles on chip and seal roads, with a 50+ mph downhill left hander on the chip and seal.
The first time down this hill, my brakes faded, my body went cold and Iflew down on the inside of everybody. I can't believe I made it out of that alive.
The second time wasn't as bad, but was still a little sketchy.
I made it up the KOM climb both times in the main field, and my special training for hill climbing helped immensely. Usually on the group rides, I get shelled on the short steep climbs, but this climb was just as steep, but 1.5 miles long and I pulled a lot of guys up and never had to leave my saddle.
We shelled A LOT of guys on this climb.
In the end, I let a small gap open up on some rolling hills, and a cross wind opened it up a little more. After being OTB for a few minutes 3 riders come up and my friend Zack yells for me to grab his wheel. I found my second wind, and me and another guy pull all 4 of us back to the main field on a long gradual false flat, and quickly get in the thick of it before the attacks came.
Then the rain came. I got a very weird feeling, a crazy sensation, and stayed a little OTB and watched the road ahead of me and tried to stay upright. I'm usually good in the rain, but I had a bad feeling. Another cross wind thumbed the field away from me with 2 miles to go, and despite a half-assed chase, I stayed OTB, even though I caught 5-6 riders before coming into town.
Today was the final crit. I stayed in the middle of the field most of the time, and never say a 4-man break roll off. At some point, I threw myself off the front. HARD. It felt SO natural to be driving so hard by myself, and I thought I was doing pretty well, the large crowd was cheering me on and everything. Up ahead, though, I saw a break and thought "oh no!". I don't really like being in no-man's land. After 4 laps of chasing, and constant checks on the field, I wasn't gaining any time and I wasn't losing any, so I decided to save my energhy and go back to the field.
I rode aggressively for the rest of the race, and on the last lap, I thought I'd lose out, but I ended up passing a ton of guys, getting in the right slipstreams, and as I was getting out of the saddle in the last turn for my sprint, I got thrown off by a guy down in the corner. I grabbed my brakes since there were a lot of guys dilly-dallying around, lost my momentum, and finished about 10-15th. I didn't count.
I felt bad, because I thought I could have gunned down 5 guys at least in the sprint, which I thought was a nice finishing straight. Nice and short, right after a sweeping lefter.
I think I finished like 10th on GC.