Go figure. I actually had fun racing in a criterium.

Our group was first in the lineup, so that meant we had full access to the course before the race. I really liked the course, it was almost a mile long and set up like a figure eight (that didn’t cross in the middle, we have enough crashes as-is…). It was two long rectangles with their corners touching. I got a chance to ride several laps and get used to the corners. One of the loops went right through downtown Salida and the closed road, tunnel of buildings, reflections in the shop windows, and echoing sounds really enhanced the feeling of speed. Very cool.

Unfortunately, my legs were pretty shredded after yesterdays effort and I couldn’t hang with the pack. The start was REALLY fast, and I was caught in the back. I managed to move up in the straightaways, but not enough. I was sprinting around guys that were getting gapped in front of me, never a good thing. At one point I really wanted to quit, but dug deep and spent several laps solo in chase mode. Eventually, a group of 4 caught up to me and boy was I glad to have someone to work with. We finished 1/2 a lap down (I was 28th out of 42), but at least I didn’t get lapped and pulled like I did in Utah. Small steps…

The Froot Loops I had for breakfast (stupid) kept coming back to haunt me at the worst time, plus I was trying out a new sports drink mix that Tim loaned me. I was burping and spitting multi-colored chunks all over the place. So macho.

If you look closely at the picture, you can see my teammates (blue and yellow) well represented in the pack. This is the part of the figure eight where the corners touched. Unfortunately, you can also see my backside (blue with yellow stripe) – which means I’m headed in the exact opposite direction. Umm, definitely not pro…