Today it was Alex, Milaud, and I racing in the 17-18s. I got there and warmed up while talking with Alex, Milaud and Coach Ray. Ray was telling us key points of the course where riders will attack, and how we should positions ourselves. Coming into this race, I was really confused at what I would do. This isn't a traditional Criterium, so I had difficulty just imagining a good position to stay in. I knew that my mental focus would have to be much more stronger than usual, and it was when the race started.
Once the race did start, the field went hard right away, as expected. The field looked a little something like this:
- Team Specialized guys (Cat 2's and some Cat 3's who have raced in Europe and Nationals)
- Team Swift guys (Mostly Cat 3's with one or two Cat 2's)
- Above Category Racing guys (Similar to Team Swift)
- A few Tieni Duro guys
- The decent, but obvious, novice guys (Me, Alex, Milaud)
So yeah there was a HUGE fitness/ability gap which I think was the main determiner of the race. But regardless of that, I still did the race because I knew it will be hard, and I want to do as much J17-18 races on the last year of being Junior because It's my only chance to race with guys who are above my USAC category (4), so that when I'm racing in my respective category, it won't be a surprise when the tempo gets tough.
So about that climb-it wasn't that bad (in the beginning) the first time up it wasn't a surprise because there's a lot of steep roads like that where I live, so I knew what to expect. My legs did give in 3/4 of the way, dropping my cadence to probably 50ish. I felt as strong as the other Juniors going up it, and I used the small descent as a recovery. However, the part after that is what got me, it was really fast and the road was really sketchy so there was too much going on my mind at the time (good thing I didn't race in a bigger pack!), so therefore coming into the Start/finish line on Lap 2, I saw a Specialized guy breaking off so I bridged his wheel and burned a lot of matches. I bumped elbows with a Team Swift guy for what seemed like the longest time ever. Thankfully, I'm used to that from the CAT 5 races and even a few times in the PV rides.
The pack passed me on the way down from the cat's hill. I still had eyesight of them for 5 laps, I lost them on the 6th lap and then was alone until the finish (8 laps). When I knew I was lapped, I stayed to the side because I didn't want to disrupt the main pack and the guys in the break.
I did cross the finish line on [my] 8th lap. I was happy that I got to experience how difficult and brutal these guys who have raced in Europe and Nationals raced. This was a really hard race, my lungs were beginning to hurt half-way through the race and even a few minutes after the race ended, but the pain subsided.
Alex wasn't able to finish due to his Cassette lockring not being locked. Milaud finished, but I don't know if he finished before or after me. Regardless of that, I sort of had fun suffering because whenever I have a hard race, I'll know if I'm going hard or not in future races.
