I Ride, I Write

That’s the good news.

The bad news out of today’s RMR Crit is that I got dropped with three laps to go because I am a soft, weak little wimp on the wheels.

I entered today’s race without any real expectations. Sure, I wanted to be competitive and was hoping to be in position for a Top 10 finish. Alas, more than 10 people showed up.

All was well for the first few laps. I was hanging in the middle of the lead pack of the C Flight with four or five other Porcs. I’d fade a little at times and make up that ground at other times. Not a problem with that because it was a pretty easy pace as everyone seemed to be conserving energy for the last two laps and especially the final sprint.

But as is usually the case at the crits, I was way too cautious at times and faded as we hit the backstretch turns. By the time we rounded the far turn, however, I was about 10 meters off the back and as I took the turn too wide, I was hit by the strong headwind and never saw the main group again.

So much for my hope to be a possible leadout guy as we rounded Turn 1. From that point, my goal was to not be passed by anyone else and to try and chase down one or two stragglers as the race wrapped up.

I managed to do just that and caught a couple of other cyclists that had been dropped. I’m not sure where my actual finish was, but I imagine I was in the 15-18 range — I think.

Had a good ride home with a couple of the team members and got in about 30 total miles.

The race itself was my first of the season, reminded me that I am still a very mediocre cyclist and served as a learning experience. I’ll know where to position myself in the final 4-5 laps next time.

Even with a mediocre-to-poor result, it was a good day to be in the saddle.