In the 3/4 race, I got 5th place again. I'm happy with that I suppose, but I should have worked harder on my position with 2 laps to go. I was just coming from too far back. There's just no real estate after the final corner.
I did try to get away once. There were three guys off the front (two trying to bridge individually), and I thought they had a chance with some organization. I attacked, did a big curb-to-curb 'S' to shake the two guys who came with me, and motored away. I caught the first guy, but he couldn't hang with me. I caught the 2nd guy, and he was able to hang, but couldn't work. I caught the 3rd guy, and he couldn't hang.
I was off the front for 2 laps, but with nobody sharing the workload, we got caught. I slipped in around 10th and recovered until 3 to go.
I came into the final chicane in 8th or 9th, made up two places in the corner, then sprinted past two other guys in the run to the finish, but I couldn't touch the other 4. They were a couple meters up. Average speed was up from last week to 25.6 (for whatever that's worth).
Kind of frustrating that I let myself be out of position given the legs that I had. I don't think the break affected me at all -- just poor positioning. Oh well. I think I still lack confidence in my fitness for some reason -- like if I don't hide in the pack in the last lap, I won't have legs to sprint. Clearly, that's not the case, so I need to open up a can of whoopass a little earlier.
Then, in the 1-4 open race, my calves started cramping really badly after 30 minutes. Last week I pushed through it, but tonight I decided it wasn't worth messing with. The pace had already averaged 26.5, and was climbing quickly. Not the place to be after the first race (last week started slower).
I guess I need to get some electrolytes between the races. I thought water and a Gu would work for me, but no dice. I haven't done this kind of crap for so long -- this 36-year-old body is a little different than the 24-year-old body I last raced with
Still, I'm not going to be a factor in the 2nd race until I stop doing the 1st race. I think I will race it by itself to prepare for the AT&T Downtown Crit on 6/16. I'm going to do the M35+, and there are a couple Cat 2s in these Thursday crits who will race M35+. I need to figure out where I am relative to them...