First race of the year.

Mother's day marked the first race of the year for me and pretty much the first hard effort. After taking care of my "I heart Mom" duties on Friday night I was clear for me time on the bike. The last month has seen me off the bike a lot (I like to say I was tapering). First, I had to let the knee recover which ended up taking over 2 weeks because I was impatient, and then a cold took out almost all riding for another 1 1/2 weeks. I came into this race well rested and thanks to my inability to restrain my hand to mouth actions during that time, a few pounds heavier. Needless to say, I was just hoping to get some intensity in and not embarrass myself too much.

I was in the second row at the MNSCS Expert start. A little small talk and making fun of others and their bikes as to get the upper mental edge was the game I was playing as my fun would end seconds later. Off we started, and I ended up soft pedaling for the first 70 feet as I was stuck behind some single speeder. A couple of corners and a small hill before the water tower bend saw me move up several spots in the prologue. I held back at the start as I knew I could easily blow up, but still hit the singletrack in 7th position behind Hollywood with a group of 4 just seconds up on us. I was feeling really good at that point and made a pass, to which Sam Oftedahl (Erik's brother) passed me. I held his wheel until the my internal power regulator prematurely started to turn down the dial. And that is what happened the rest of the race. I could not sustain a good power output as the dial kept getting turned down despite never feeling redlined. I steadily made my way backwards, and 1 hour and 41 minutes later, ended 26th for the day. Last year I was 13th and a couple of minutes faster. Now I just to get some time on my bike at high intensity to build on the base miles in the legs.

Picture courtesy of Ryan Isaacs off of the MNSCS page.

Some race notes:

-The course was dry and fast except for the mudhole that sucked in more than one front wheel. The rain the night before was shown who the boss is by the MORC race organizers.

-My bike is awesome. I love the way that things rides.

-There were several more team members out there from Velorochester this year which was great! Old Man Barlow took his age group in citizen, "Killer Calves" Moore took second overall in Expert, and Top Chris SL followed him in 8th. It is cool to see others rocking out some top places.

-It was good to get a race in the legs. The body feels like it woke back up and knows that it is time to get to some serious riding.

-Doug Swanson would have won by more had he put a 26" rear wheel on, but he had read the article and did not want to give it any acknowledgement by doing as such.

-Matt Kurke. No notes, just mentioning his name.

.

Some Non-race notes:

-My baby's momma is getting the kicks going on from the growth in her tummy. That is pretty sweet.

-The first ever Velorochester training camp is this next weekend. One thing is for sure, we will not be measuring saddle set backs. We are too cool for that.

-I have got a lot of painting to do today before the new tenant moves in this weekend.

-Rochester Cycling and Fitness is busy these days.

-You need to get back to work.