6.22.2011

westlake worlds - 6.21

06212011_Tues_WWorlds

another tuesday, another westlake training crit.

race started out casual as usual, then picked up after the start/finish on the first lap. nothing of note went down, until a few laps later when i got into an early break.

the group was a little bit bigger and eventually the pack would catch back up. figured at some point a break was going to go, and it would probably involve jim b, so i focused my efforts to staying up front and near jim.

another small break goes and i sit back and eventually i would take some harder pulls to keep their gap in check. about 100 feet from catching them, i back off and wait for the attack.

a few laps later, i roll through the front and am sitting towards the front - then it goes down. rob rolls off the front seated and hitting the pedals hard, jim makes quick work up to close the gap. i hesitate for a moment, nobody chases - and i decide to go. heart rate hits about 185 as rob kicks again and makes my life painful... we hit the first corner and i on their tail, i look back and matt is about to catch us. robert would also eventually come up as well.

with the group established, we are all pulling through pretty good, but then a car comes on course and causes us to slow down. at the front again, i pull after the first corner all the way to the 2nd corner at around 31mph. gap goes up again.

robert cracks, matt is not feeling well, and it looks like the field is attempting to chase. i decide that hard fast pulls between corner 1 and 2 were going down every lap until the field decides to stop chasing or the gap goes up. with 2 to go, the gap is good.

rob leads it out from waaaay out, jim sitting 2nd, me in 3rd, matt in 4th. jim comes around and takes the win, i close the gap on rob but he beats me to the line - he takes 2nd, i grab 3rd and matt is close behind in 4th.

nice way to wrap up a tuesday night before the rain hit.

and i did officially get new 53/39 rings a week or two ago, but at this point i am not going to jinx myself with new road gears.

next up - this weekend, hmmm... deciding on a potential first for me in a long time. i see a potential real deal non-training race criterium in my future....

sologoat out

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