Lago Vista I and II
The first race of 2009 with a nearly full squad of Mercy riders. Still in the blue colors of old as the new stuff hasn’t came in yet. I wonder when the new clothes come in?
Anyways, with a start list boasting over 130 riders in the P,1,2 one thing was positive. Positioning would be an integral part to success. I covered some moves, but spent too much energy trying to keep Joe and the Werewolf out of the wind and up front. Probably too much juice as the legs weren’t there in the end. Heath Blackgrove and Steve Tilford showed that they were the best that day. Impressive ride for the both of them.
Numbers, numbers, numbers:
Time spent at or above Lactate Threshold: 91 min.
Amount of coasting: 17%
Number of 1000kj hours: 2.75, couldn't quite finish the 3rd.
Number of times I moved teammates around the field, keeping them out of the wind: too many.
Times I got dropped: 3.
Times I got back on the field: 2.
How much that sucked on a scale of 1-10: 11.2.
Lago II
Judging by the scenery, I thought it must be St. Patrick’s Day. Kelly Benefits decided to enter 10 PRO riders into the race. Interesting. They placed 5 of the top 7, as they should. With those numbers of top riders, they should really have the entire podium wrapped up (all 5 spots). But they didn’t which means they either gave away some spots or they just didn’t show enough hustle.
16 minutes and it felt way easier than the previous day. Flat tire. Crap! But the interesting thing, my “neutral wheel” had totally seized up bearings. Seriously? What kind of person puts a wheel with seized bearings in the wheel truck? Not cool. That guy has some serious bad Karma heading his way.
So there I was, sulky. I wanted to race. I didn’t drive 700 miles to watch. Boooooo! That’s when I hooked up with Charlie Tamas of Team Hotel San Jose and we rode from Lago Vista all the way to Circle C (host house of ex- Topeka rider George McDirmid (sp?)). We rode along Lake Travis all the way to the Dam Loop and around to Barton Springs road. Basically, taking the best parts of 3-4 area rides and doing them all in the same day. Great ride and I’m very thankful to have such a good ride on a gorgeous day.
