So I found my 'racing' against the D's this evening, and I'm a C category rider. True, I wasn't feeling the power, riding towards the bottom end category power but still, I felt I should be able to get clear and despite a few bursts, I wasn't able to pull away from the group. The exasperation built.
Tonight's race was 31k on one of the flatter routes and by midway I was solidly stuck in a group of six and despite them not technically being in my 'race' I did, however, really want to kick their asses...
Thoughts turned to how, when, where I'd make my move. Leave it to the sprint? But maybe they'd have enough of kick for it to be a gamble. Leave it till a kilometer out and then hit FTP and beyond... Go at 5k to go? I wasn't feeling hugely strong, perhaps I'd blow up. I still seem to be in the (probably overtraining) doldrums.
In the end it all unfolded by itself. When we hit the slightly undulating section, with about 10k to go one of the riders made a break for it and I went with him. Very quickly we got the break and being a duo we were able to share the load and keep the speed up.
Coming into the last 6k the guy I was with made a break on a short steep bit and found me napping. He very quickly got 40-50m ahead and that's normally game over but I wasn't prepared to let it go and started to crank it up. My legs were burning but I could see the gap coming down. I caught him with about 4k to go and just kept on with the hurt. Once I got my nose ahead I wasn't in the mood to let it slip and kept the hammer down through to the line.
Probably shouldn't have got carried away with the racing...
Tonight's race was 31k on one of the flatter routes and by midway I was solidly stuck in a group of six and despite them not technically being in my 'race' I did, however, really want to kick their asses...
Thoughts turned to how, when, where I'd make my move. Leave it to the sprint? But maybe they'd have enough of kick for it to be a gamble. Leave it till a kilometer out and then hit FTP and beyond... Go at 5k to go? I wasn't feeling hugely strong, perhaps I'd blow up. I still seem to be in the (probably overtraining) doldrums.
In the end it all unfolded by itself. When we hit the slightly undulating section, with about 10k to go one of the riders made a break for it and I went with him. Very quickly we got the break and being a duo we were able to share the load and keep the speed up.
Coming into the last 6k the guy I was with made a break on a short steep bit and found me napping. He very quickly got 40-50m ahead and that's normally game over but I wasn't prepared to let it go and started to crank it up. My legs were burning but I could see the gap coming down. I caught him with about 4k to go and just kept on with the hurt. Once I got my nose ahead I wasn't in the mood to let it slip and kept the hammer down through to the line.
Probably shouldn't have got carried away with the racing...
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