The weather has been really amazing here in Northern California the past few weeks. I was able to get some very good riding in on Tuesday and Thursday last week. The Tuesday night Road Ride is always filled with attacks and lots of climbing when the group gets going. My legs felt better as the ride went on and the hills kept coming. Thursday I did some interval work on the steep hills of Pebble Beach.
Saturday I contested 2 races! In the morning it was the Cal Aggie Crit. in Sacramento. I missed a break away group of 8 riders who fought it out for the win. However, I almost won the field sprint, and led it out from 300 yards to go to the line. Ouch!!! that effort really hurt, as there were about 70 guys I was drag racing to the line, with me on the front the whole way! Then I hopped in the van and drove for 3 hours. Because.... Saturday night was one of my favorite races of the year, The "Lou" Night Cyclocross race in Fresno. I knew I might not race my best having done a Crit race that morning. And sure enough, my legs felt pretty tired & lacking power during the race. As I sprinted up any of the hills, I did not feel fresh. I had three small slide-outs during the race, maybe I was running too much air pressure in the tires. Even with a fw wash outs and not feeling super strong I still managed to win the Masters division of the night race. It was a fun race for sure, with a band and a real party atmosphere.
Sunday was the Early Bird Crit. in Fremont. The field was big, maybe 120 riders in my race. My legs felt good and on the final lap I was in a perfect position for the win. However I ran out of power in the last 40 yards of the sprint and was passed by a few guys on the line. In this mass sprint I was 7th overall out of 120 riders. I also won the Cat. 3 division at this race. This win of the Cat.3 division was good, as I am very close to having enough points to upgrade my road licence to Cat. 2.
It was a good week of riding and racing! Besides riding, I was also able to do some trail work at Toro Park for the upcoming cycling activities there.
