Yesterday was the first “road race” of 2010. I put strong quotations around the word because dependant on your perspective (and what’s really under that chamois), yesterday was either a ‘super-fun-unique-excellently-orchestrated-bike-race’, or an ‘exercise-in-insanity-that-you-would-have-to-be-psycho-to-attempt’.
To clarify - I fall strongly into the former category, as do about 100 other happy racers who were in attendance. To anyone who has spent time on a mountain bike/cross bike racing on gravel seems like a natural step, and for those with any measure of cycling competency a chance to ride some different roads and add a selective element to a race is good. For those who were too afraid to take their manicured road machines on a little adventure, it was your loss.
The first race of the year is also good for reminding you what was forgotten over the winter amongst the bliss of LSD rides and coffee stops every 50km… racing is hard. Although only 75km long, three of us ended up riding the race ahead of the pack for the last 4/5 laps, and in the end the hurt I had laid on myself made me appreciate the huge effort of Dallas, who rode most of the race solo for the win – well done! It took me the entire 40km ride home to work the stiffness out of my legs.
Spring is in full swing now. It has taken me the better part of a week to recover from the jetlag and off-bike time in Europe (more on that this week), but yesterday was a good little test. Thanks to Speed Theory and Trev for giving us something new on the calendar.
Awesome effort dude, that was one heck of a tough race for mid April!
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