This weekend I learned that racing in men’s B is a lot harder than men’s C! After having my confidence boosted by getting 13th (5 omnium points!) in the ITT, I was pretty excited for what would happen with the (uphill finishing!) circuit race. I felt like I kept pretty good position throughout the circuit race, being around 10th wheel or closer to the front (but not on the front!) for most of the time. I was trying to race like the weakest rider. When we turned onto the finishing climb and I was still about 10th wheel, I had the first hint of leg cramping—while many others zoomed by me I was a bit conservative to avoid having my legs completely seize up.
I guess my body is not quite used to 90 minute races yet or I need to manage eating/drinking better. I got 29th, finishing a few seconds behind the front pack. The crit was one of the most fun races I’ve done in a long time. The highlight was sitting in behind Chewie sometimes –it felt like having coached laps in a clinic, but with the full race experience! It was great to try to mirror how Chewie conserved energy with smooth power delivery while many others were frequently standing up to hammer. The 2nd highlight (lowlight?) was that in the final lap, things got really sketchy and I had two near-crash experiences. It was the scariest race I think I’ve ever been in, in addition to one of the most fun.