Fourth of July at Davis was …. painful.
Arrived and ran into Rey Surla who brought up two juniors for their races. The first junior was on course when I arrived. Rey was racing later. I warmed up and realized that the Fourth of July at Davis Criterium had been brutally fast and grueling the last time I attempted to throw my hat in the ring. I lasted ten minutes of the 40 minute race if memory serves me correctly. I popped and got dropped.
With those memories in mind I warmed up on the Giant TCR Advanced and then headed to the line promising myself to have a better showing than the last Fourth of July at Davis. As I got a warm-up lap I noted that the course was reversed for some reason. It was probably to eliminate crashes I figured. I toed the line and saw some familiar faces in the pack but no Team Fremont racers in the race with me.
The instructions were given. The whistle blew and I couldn’t clip in. Bother. I tried to clip in and for the life of me couldn’t perform that simple task. Then, suddenly, click! I was in the rear of the 88 racers! I had to crank it up and cover some ground.
For two laps I just weaved through the pack and tried to get into the upper third. I was close when the announcer called a prime for the next lap. The pace kicked up. I was already moving and squeezing through the pack and the increase in speed was meaningless. So, I thought.
The lap ended and I was maybe 25th but looking to push up another ten places to rest and recover when the heartless announcer called out another prime! He announced back-to-back primes! Bother.
Every lap the pack was slowing at every corner. They would go in five or six wide and have to squeeze through in twos and pushing the four others back and causing a ripple effect throughout the pack. It didn’t help my situation of trying to get in the “sweet” spot and rest and recover. There was no rest and recovery. There was just pain and suffering and more pain and suffering.
First prime down. I was still about 25th but then we hit one of those corners where everyone needed to check to see if their nail polish hadn’t smeared or something and suddenly I went from 25th to 45th. Bother. I dug a little deeper. I refused to have the same results as last Fourth of July at Davis Criterium. I dug deeper and closed the gap and hung on.
It was the second prime of the back-to-back primes that broke me. Lap cards came out. 12 laps to go.
I had dug so deep that I thought that I could see my own beating heart and the pack was pulling away. I closed my eyes and tried to go back to the well and dig a little deeper. There was nothing left.
With 10 laps to go I was pulled.
30 minutes of pain and progress at the Fourth of July at Davis Criterium.
Ouch.
Watched Conan race. He got second.
Watched Rey race. He finished mid-pack.
I left even though Conan and Rey were racing again three hours later!
Good work teammates.