Results are in!

I had a pretty good day Sunday. The course in Paudling, Georgia was great. Pretty twisty, a little mud, hilly, with a fair amount of pavement. The temperature was hovering at about freezing, maybe a little below. The course definitely worked to my advantage, with a lot of quick acceleration then quick deceleration. There was never much of a chance to really go all out, which is always good for me. I started the day feeling bad, very congested, but figured with a little bit of cheering, tootin' the big plastic horn, ringing some cowbells, I'd get to feeling better.

By the time the 'C' race staging began, I was still feeling pretty bad, so I lined up in the second row. I figured maybe 25 racers would line up, and that would put me starting mid-pack. After a couple minutes, there were six rows behind me. What a field! Not wanting to hold up a bunch of guys who were most certainly faster than me, I sheepishly excused myself from the second row and moved to the back. I usually like to start in a mid-pack position, this gives me a chance to test my bunch start skills, without causing too much trouble for anyone else. But this time, I just knew I'd have problems, and the cold air was really starting to get to me.

While I was standing there, waiting for the whistle, I decided I was going to give it a good, hard effort at the start, ride at my limit for a lap or two, then ease up. Maybe this way I could still get a little workout and some more race experience, without making myself more sick. We had a somewhat confusing start, and I barrelled up through the ranks, maybe getting to about 35th before we transitioned to the dirt. We swung up through the trees and snaked our way down to a sweet little run-up with a pair of barriers. I was pretty quick and fluid up the run-up, and quickly discovered it was way faster to run to the top, rather than try to remount and ride it. I lost a few spots as always, as the initial flurry of activity wore off, and settled into a rhythm. At this point, I was really feeling good. Surprisingly good, actually. We came into another little twisty section with a lot of pavement transitions. Great opportunity for pinch flats all through this section. I rode it pretty much in full-gas mode, and for the first couple laps was able to confidently bunny hop onto the pavement. This was followed by a set of stairs (which I took two-at-a-time on every lap!) leading into a short paved climb, back onto the grass, before dropping onto what was arguably the most fun part - the twisty downhill into the ditch crossing leading up to the start/finish line.

I rode with pretty much the same guys for a couple laps, particularly one tall dude in a Russian jersey, then dramatically fell off the pace on the third lap. I started wheezing and hacking, which was exceptionally gross, to the point that I was really self-conscious of it. I was a little afraid that an official would pull me, thinking I was having some kind of respiratory attack, and I really had to ease up. I soft-pedaled for about a half-lap and lost a bunch of places, but then it cleared up. I was a little into the fourth lap when I suddenly felt a lot better, so I gunned it as best I could, picked off a few of the guys who'd passed me earlier, and finished in a sprint. I wasn't really sprinting for anything, I really just did it to show the spectators that even 42nd can go hard for the line...

All in all, it was a great day of racing. For the first time this season, I put a lot of trust in my tubulars and I just stuck it in every turn. I did a lot of stuff right. I picked the right lines, I passed in the right spots, sat in when I needed, went all out when I was able, and my legs felt great. I finished 42 out of 60, and I was a little disappointed when it was over - I feel like I could have moved up a couple more spots if we’d had another lap. I ran 27/30 in the tires, and it was perfect.

Now it's time for a mid-season "break". I've got a lot of training to do to get where I want to be, but I think I can do it. Next race is the Chickasaw Series in January, put on by Columbia Cycling Club. I think this will be the 14th year? This is the series where I get to race against guys I know, and it will be interesting to see what happens. I'm aiming to place in the top half. In the meantime, I'll be practicing remounts, doing a little running, but mainly just working on the trainer and trying to get faster. I'm getting to the point where going "as hard as I can" doesn't hurt as much, but I don't seem to be any faster, so maybe I've reached a training plateau. Time to step it up a notch, maybe.