Saint Dumass SR Stage 2
Wow. This was one hard stage. Pretty much from the get-go it was fast. A real rock and roll course with lots of short steep climbs, tight corners, and wind. The first couple laps were balls out and a bunch of dudes had to go home early. I felt pretty good early on and was trying hard to stay in front before the climbs, but it warn't (yes, warn't) easy as I am pretty sure the other 125 guys had the same idea. Anyway, the race followed the typical script of early break goes, and the leader's team (Toyota-United) rides on the front all day. I will give it up for any of those guys for being men among men because we were not creeping one bit. Anyway, with about two to go, the proverbial sh*t hit the fan, and we all got gutterballed. I ended up in an okay group that was rolling a sensible tempo to the finish. It's always kinda funny when this happens because there's guys that want to keep racing (I am not a heckler, if guys want to race for 50th, have at it) and guys that just want to creep around to the finish. I was happy to be in a group in the middle, still riding a decent pace, but not trying to kill anybody.
Overall, I was pretty much okay with how I went in my first real race of the year. It was cool to see the Utah connection out there (DHarward, Flash Gordon, Free Bird, and ex-Utahan Kath), but it would be better to see more guys. I am still all for a Utah-United team to travel to some of these race and roll together.
Oh yeah, and there was a finish and someone won.
Oh yeah (again), I got caught in a traffic jam (yes, on Saturday morning- I don't Love LA) and despite giving myself 2.5 hours to make the 45 minute drive, I got to the start 10 minutes before we took off and didn't have time to find arm warmers, leg warmers, or any of that crap. Oddly, I was pretty much comfortable the whole time... probably because the little engine that couldn't (i.e.- me) was working over time. Oh yeah, and I didn't take a feed for the entire 100 mile race, which is funny because I have done this race back in the day when they ran it in June, and then, I remember taking at least one if not two feeds each lap which is a lot of liquid refreshment, but not so much when it's 105 degrees.
I guess that's it for this one.
Crit story later,
RB