Ended up doing the unsanctioned stage race that i posted about a fwe weeks ago. First race here in Utah, at altitude. Missed the TT, but since this was a pretty unorganized event, it didn't matter.
Stage 2: The mountain stage. A roughly 20 mile stage with 3 big climbs.
Started out just shooting the **** with some people in the roll to the first climb. Realized being 10 wheels back in the pack of 40 was a bad idea when an old guy said it felt fast as we were rolling maybe 21 mph on flat in a paceline. Moved upto about 3rd wheel and went for an early attack on the flat because I felt like it. Ended up getting pointed the wrong way by a cop literally15 seconds later. Turned around, chased and never made contact back to the group before the climb where it promptly exploded. Still way off the pace, I tt'd the climbs and lost time on the descents. Ended up 7th overall, with an average of 5th best time on each of the climbs. Pretty sweet, and I guess the field was abit more competitive than I thought it would be going in.
Stage 3: The road race. 56 miles, flat until the last 10k. Again, focussedon staying up front. Marked the GC leader's attack about 10 miles in and ended up in a break of 5 that I thought would stick to the end. Apparently one guy was working for his wife, who was in the race brought back our breakaway at some point on the flat. (remember unsanctioned and disorganized, no seperated categories, just seperated results by M/W/ Kids). Not sure why he did, but his wife then got dropped from the group and all his work to bring us back was for nothing lol. Stuck in the group, stayed at the front. Bridged up to one other break that came back pretty quick/ Group went from 45 at start, to 10. Hit a highway and there was no one there to direct us anywhere. The leader had his phone nad was able to get us going the right way. At the base of the climb, gc leader rode away, one other went in front of me. I chased down the other guy right after the peak of a climb and we descend back down to the highway.
At this point it got confusing as ther ewas no race markers and we came up the finish line going the wrong way. No volunteers to point us anywhere. Other guy came back up to me and we rode across the line together. Turns out the race moved a bit quicker than expected and volunteers didn't get to their posts quick enough. where we started descending, we should have turned back up hill and gone up and around for another 2 miles. So 9 of us made the wrong turn and the leader went the right way. The group of 10 got together and we decided we would freeze results where we missed the turn. So I ended up 3rd. Not really competing for any prizes or anything, so it doesn't truly matter much, just wish we could have had a proper finishing duel.
Course was super fun and if there is more road races like this in the state I could see myself doing well. I like the kind of racing that favors a strong all around rider. Also, this gave me a great opportunity to meet some of the racers in the state. It obviously didn't attract a ton of talent due to it's new status, but still, met people and starting to get a feel for a few of the teams. Also it's the same weekend as baker city and the state TT champs.. So...