Froze Toes

The time everyone looks forward to - how do you stack up to the rest of the winter warriors?

I knew I had decent form going into the spring. I have bumped my threshold power from 300 to around 310W. Riding around with Justin will do that to you. Actually I have only done a few long rides with Justin, but it has been enough to mentally reset my base pace from a more leisurely endurance to a brisk tempo. I have noticed that I am going faster and with higher average watts on my standard routes. Plus I was recently able to complete 10x repeats on Ladue hill at 405W (about 2min each) with no significant power drop. Now power to weight is another issue. I find myself stuck at 180-185 lbs. If I try to decrease calories, I end up ravenously hungry and blow the whole thing. I love food too much and at 40 years old and in a position of some means, and with a serious foodie best friend... well, I can complain but I'm also not going to give up dinners at The Crossing!

Anyway, the race. Bad starting position, stuck in mid pack first 1/3 of race, no space to advance, surge-brake-surge-break etc. Got better on the back stretch, but then Austin and Klages had already gotten a good gap. I have no sprint and no teamates, so I knew I had to make a move with some space to go. This I did with about 3 miles to go and had a decent gap. I thought I might just make it, but two guys (Patrick Hawley and some Trek store dude) had too strong of a sprint and nipped me about 10 meters from the line. I would have to be happy with 5th. Partially successful move? Probably would not have finished as well if I had waited for the sprint. I'm cooling down afterward and several people complimented my move. Then some guy rails me saying I went way too early, no chance, why did you kill yourself, etc. WTF!?? I fucking beat you, you moron! I like my plan, it's my strength and I'm sticking to it. One of these days it's going to work.