This is one of those days where I pretty much got out of it what I put into it.
I've thought a couple of times about skipping this race. It's a pretty long drive and it's really not a course that suits me. Being only one point behind in the series, I really had to go. With two races left in the series, I was all but guaranteed to be in the top 2 and I am kind of settling into being 2nd. I know it's not a great place to be mentally but I'm more than ready for the season to be over.
The course is 10.8 miles long on an out-and-back course with the turnaround on a traffic circle, which is big enough to take at full speed.
The terrain is the tricky part. It's about 2.2 miles uphill, 1.5 miles flat, and then 2.2 miles downhill... then turn around and do it the other way.
I was able to power up the hills pretty well. I held a really decent power on each one, at about 105% to 110% of threshold (about 280 to 285 watts). The flat section on the way out was just a hair belod threshold, at 250 watts. On the way back, I was kind of losing focus and only averaged 225 watts (25 watts below target).
The downhills just were not a good place for me... I'm not an aggressive descender. Some guys have no problem descending at 40 mph. I'm not one of them. While I was going 30 to 35 for long sections, I was just coasting and not pushing the pace to go harder. I was just not willing to take the risk.
My only big problem of the day came in the turnaround. I lost track of the exits to the circle and, despite the course marshal telling me where to go, I started heading for the wrong road. Once I realized my mistake I panicked a little and jammed on the brakes. My back wheel locked up and I started to skid out at 25 mph. I let go of the brakes and got control back, but I'd dropped to 10 mph. I was now in a very large gear and had to force the bike back up to speed. I probably lost 10 or 15 seconds... but in reality it didn't matter.
I finished in 7th at 28:41, 2:20 behind the winner (who really does not belong in the Cat 4 category). The guys in 2nd - 6th were all clustered closely together from 27:26 to 27:37. Then there was my big 1:04 gap. I could have been a minute faster and still been in 7th.
Anthony finished 6th, now putting him 2 points ahead of me in the series. After conceding a minute to him today, it's not likely that I'll beat him next weekend and get the 3 points over him that I need to win. However there are only 20 points available next weekend and I have a 35-point lead over the guy in 3rd, so I don't even have to show up to get 2nd in the series.
I'm planning to go and give it a little more effort than I did this weekend, but it is nice to take a little pressure off.
What I did right:
Recovered in the skid and didn't crash
What could have been better:
My motivation
My whole approach to the day
Make sure I'm heading to the right street in the turnaround
Not panic and lock up the brakes
The Numbers:
Distance: 10.8 miles
Time: 28:41
Speed: 22.5 mph
Avg Power: 245 watts (263 watts normalized)
Avg Heart Rate: 163 bpm
