I just couldn't sleep.
I tossed and turned all night and just couldn't slip away into blissful slumber. I don't think there was any real reason other than I kept thinking about my 4am alarm.
I think I finally dozed for about 90 minutes when my iphone iwoke me up. I dressed, downed a lovely cup of coffee, stuffed some bread and fruit down my gullet and headed down to meet the guys.
We met at my house so it was easy for me this time. We packed up the team car, headed off for one more coffee and then drove 2 hours to the start.
It was a bit crisp during the 5km neutral but once we got going things cranked up to 60kph and I warmed up pretty quickly.
It was basically an out and back course that then turned onto a 5km climb to the finish. Not exactly the best for me. The plan was to get Gavin into a move after the turn around and if that got caught then Shou Ciao would nail it on the finish climb.
My job was to keep things together and lead Gavin out when it was time. This meant I needed to be active at the front. Early on there was a rider away who was just up the road but slowly rolling away. He had team mates massed at the front so I decided not to let them set up their rabbit.
I rolled to the front and picked up the pace with the idea of bringing this guy back. As I got pretty close to him I glanced back and realized that I was alone - they'd let me go off the front. This was the same team I was in a long break with in November. Maybe they thought it would help out their whole rabbit thing.
I closed on the rider and we rode together for a few more km when the bunch decided that it was time to end this silliness. Thank GOD. I had no desire to be there in the first place.
Lots of attacks and chases and I had to go to the front several times to bring the pace back up when it came time to get Gavin off the front. I was at the front pushing the pace when I glanced back and saw Gavin on my wheel. I figured he was ready to go. I notched it up and we strung out the group and pulled away. Then we jumped.
We got a gap and a decent rider from a team with numbers was with us. Gavin went around me and he went with him. I drifted back to the bunch to set up shop minding the bunch. When I got there 2 of my team mates had seen us go and were also in place.
Gavin and the other rider rode away. The plan was in motion.
A few km from the bottom of the climb Gavin started to not feel so great. The other rider sensed this and backed off a little. As we started onto the finish climb Gavin was reeled in and it was time for Shou Ciao to set to work.
Shou Ciao has been doing mostly base work (as all of us have) and didn't quite have the snap he needed at the end. He managed 9th overall. Gavin held on for 16th and I rolled across at 21st with our other rider at 23rd, just behind me.
This was only our second race together and the first race I'd done with the new riders. We were also down 2 riders to the flu. I was pretty happy that we executed both our plans and that riders were reading each others' moves and intentions. This bodes well for the season.
We have a 3 day training camp Feb 5~8 with a 20min power test on the 5th. This should be interesting...
No comments:
Post a Comment