Saturday, February 24, 2007

Race Report


Wasn't very vigilant to start off with. We were a huge bunch so I expected them to hang with the stronger guys for at least 5km. When I looked again they'd floated about 200m off the front. Thanks. So I got into the usual setup of arranging a chase. Except there were only a handful of riders of any calibre, and they were hesitant to help.


So I did a lot of long hauls upfront, with your occasional showboat idiot resting for about 10 minutes and then sprinting off the front.


Having said that, although I handled most of the uphills okay, the long drag past Engen wasn't so easy. Legs didn't feel very fresh - think the 60km Thursday was still sitting in them. So started to lose touch with the guys, but over the summit I pulled on the thread and reconnected with some effort, HR maxxing at 167 (which really isn't that high).


Then I took some time to recover and did a nice dummy sprint with 2km to go, then had two showboats to draft behind (who started sprinting way to early) and then the last 300m was a snip. Nice to at least win the finishing sprints of the last two races. At least a bit of justice for being the hardest working rider in both cases. Of course, usually the the hardest working rider that gets punished the most. So nice not to have the exceptions count in my favor.


Distance: 83.1km

Time: 2:14:31

Average speed: 37.1km/h

HR ave: 156 (170 max in sprint)

Total Calories: 2356

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