Finally...sort of

After getting uncerimoniously dropped from the last 2...no wait...3 races i'd entered, i finally managed to hang for an entire race. I seem to have discovered a new way to prepare for a race. I used to think i needed to do a "race prep" ride, and a long warm-up to have any chance of racing well. After this weekend, i'm not bothering w/ any of that. Saturday i rode to work (15mins) in street clothes. After work i rode to my good buddy Tim's 40th b-day bbq in fairfax (10mins). I managed to put away quite a few beers, no water at all, and a bunch of food...including one of the biggest burritos i've ever seen and a slice of wonderful chocolate b-day cake. At about 11 or so i rode home, w/ a possibly legal b.a.c. (about 25mins), for a total of 50mins on the bike, all in street clothes. Sunday Niki and i drove down to Santa Clara, w/ me underestimating the drive time by about 10-15mins, leaving me about 45 mins to change brake pads, reg, change and warm-up. After about 10mins on the trainer, i rode to the start, w/ just enough time to pull in and turn around before we started. The first lap or 2 weren't the usual pop-the-slackers-off-the-back type, they were pretty mellow. The pace picked up some, but i was pretty surprised that i never felt like i had to work hard at all to stay in. At one point, about 5 laps in, i rolled up the front right as 4 or 5 guys took off. I figured what-the-hell...and jumped on the back. The group didn't get organized and never got much of a gap. A lap or 2 after that, i rolled back up the side of the group again right as everyone slowed and the pack mushroomed to take up most of the road and ended up off the front by myself. It was a pretty windy day, so i just looked back and swore i saw a couple of guys laughing at me. So, of course, i sat up and waited for them to catch me and pulled back in. We rolled around w/ nothing really happening 'til the last couple of laps which sped up some, and saw a couple of guys flat. And me get chopped into the cones on the short straight after the first corner a couple of times, losing a bunch of spots in the process. So much for feeling great for the whole race! I ended up rolling across the line in 38th or something, out of 54 finishers. I felt i could have easily finished up in the top 10-15, if i had been a bit more aggressive. Another lesson learned, i guess. And the other lesson? Don't run over the really shitty manhole cover w/ your Zipp 303's, 'cuz you'll crack the front rim just like me. That little instant made this easily the most expensive crit i've ever done.