Last night was the second of five in the Schenectady Tuesday Night Race Series. No rain this week - sunny, temps in the mid-80s. I was feeling really excited and warm up for about 20-30 minutes. When we line up to race, there are a few more racers than last week. We start and I get a good beginning place, about six or so racers back. The pace is super fast and I can tell right away I wasn't feeling great. I just felt off for whatever reason. I pass a few guys, a few guys pass me. I held my own through the better part of the first lap, sandwiched between two really good, fast riders. I mess up on a technical feature and those two guys shoot off, I'm alone for the last part of the first lap.
I come through, go out for the second lap and just try to get into a rhythm. I just can't seem to do it, I feel twitchy on the breaks and slow. I mess up on a few technical features, wreck twice and am just feeling all over the place. No reason, just my own inadequacies with riding. I try to pick up my pace and find some sort of consistency going into the third lap. I end up catching a guy right into the beginning of the third lap, but I wreck again and he loses me. Coming in from my last lap, I feel I gave it my all and couldn't have done much better. Looking at my time, I'm surprised and a bit relieved - 1:16 for 12.11 miles. Not bad for me. This is actually the same exact time I posted last season on the last race of that series. And my first lap is one of my faster times on these trails - 24 min. for 4.3 miles. I end up in ninth place for the night and fall a bit in the overall rankings to tenth place. One of my bigger goals going into this series was making some small improvements from last season. But, I guess these kinds of rides/nights come along and you just feel a bit off. I'm hoping that I can get into a groove next week.
A few pics....
1 comment:
I hate those off days, but congrats on fighting through it and still putting up some good times. That course tore me up.
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