Headed out for a warmup through the park and around Big Woods Lake around 4:45 yesterday afternoon to get ready for the Tuesday Night Group Pain Session. There were a lot of newer faces in the parking lot behind Bike Tech last night including everything from Cat. 2 racers to recreational roadies. I was feeling pretty good and was making mental notes of what to expect from the night's festivities. The wind was coming from the North(ish) so J. Fry and I declared that we would head to Finchford and Janesville then back to Waterloo. I decided that my plan would be to ride a little smarter than normal. :) If a group went off the front I was not going to chase just to do it unless I knew that I had it in me to really contribute.
The group stayed together pretty well almost all the way to Finchford. That is where J. Fry and Finn layed down an attack and headed for 3-tier hill at full speed. I worked with Craig, Mike, and Taylor in an attempt to reel them back in before we arrived at Center St. which is about 6 miles or so of mostly rollers. The four of us worked very well together and actually made up some good time on the leading duo But, not enough to catch them. As the pace continued to increase, it ended up coming down to Mike, Taylor and myself for the first sprint of the night. I held out as long as I could before taking off down the right side of the road over the rumble strips. That was my first sprint of the year and it didn't feel too bad. Conserved just enough energy during the chase to make the sprint worthwhile.
The next leg was a pretty calm spin/regroup into Janesville before heading East to Wagner Rd. The East leg has a few small hills on it that increase in size as we go East. Speeds slowly increased until there were only four of us left and the pace was still increasing. I started watching the other three riders waiting for one of them to make a move so that I could tag along for a pull to the second sprint. Going up one of the final hills, J. Fry lurched forward and was almost off the front but, I was able to grab his rear wheel and stick with him over the top pulling Finn with me. A couple of seconds later Finn went for the sprint and I dug in to stay on his wheel before working my around him and slowly edging ahead right at the line. Sweet.
Next was a right turn and we headed South to Waterloo for the next seven miles. J. Fry picked up the pace right away but, it was a little too much for me so I sat up a touch while J. Fry and Finn rode off the front. I waited for Mike, Taylor, and Craig to catch back up and the four of us worked very well together to get back to town at a pretty quick pace. We were able to drop Taylor close to town and then I got the jump on Craig and Mike for my one last piece of all out effort on the night.
I have to admit that I was very pleased with how I rode last night, definitely a little bit of a confidence booster with a lot of training left to go. A few of us discussed race plans and I am thinking that I may make my 2008 debut over Memorial Day weekend if everything goes as planned for the next few weeks.
Easy spin on the CX bike tonight to go out and visit the TT course since the TTs start tonight. I will not be participating but, I;ll stop out to say hello nonetheless.
Read the complete post at http://carlosdajackal.blogspot.com/2008/04/fitnessits-coming-back.html