wtr take II

Got out on a brutal, hard group ride Monday (roughly equivalent effort to the WORS race). My legs were feeling pretty shot and the Vaya with it's gears, 34/50 up front and 11-23 rear currently, looked a lot more appealing than the Kona. I was thinking I was leaving for a simple 40 mileish 20 mph "cruise" and that I'd be able to "sit on" for much of it if I needed to. Sadly, the mix of riders who showed up didn't quite mesh with that idea. We ended up riding 23 or 24 mph average for long, long stretches and it was cruel enough that the group size dwindled as someone popped seemingly every hill. Obviously, I had no business being out there on the Vaya with it's upright seating position and 32c tires and it took literally everything I had to ride the 65 miles or so.

That ride, and on top of the Sunday race, left me spending Tuesday AND Wednesday mostly resting other than 1 commute and a bit of mountain biking at Eastwood.

Tonight I decided to once again make the trip to River Falls for the Thursday race. Again, had an awesome time. Felt great riding too! Maybe it's my imagination, but I thought I felt much stronger than I did last week or in Eau Claire. Got a strong start, took the lead and held it for lap 1 AND avoided any crappy feeling/going out too fast crap. Larry S. was right behind me though and I knew he would likely make a move that I wouldn't be able to respond to... the best I could do was to keep my pace "in check" enough that I wasn't too winded to at least try when he did make that move. However, about 3 minutes into lap 2 I fell and had to let him and another rider by and then screw around a bit in order to get things sorted out and I never saw him again! I did, however, catch the other rider in the middle of Lap 2 after hammering the field section out to about 32 mph. Wound up finishing about a minute behind Larry and a minute? ahead of 3rd. More important that any of that I just felt normal and strong throughout the entire ride! Looking forward to more xc rides and races for sure!

On the fence with respect to my weekend plans.