Great 5 lap race in Watopia today. KISS C/D with ~25 C riders.
As was the case last week, I let the fast group go and settled in with a smaller second group. We started with just 3 as we headed out to the volcano. There was another group of 3 or so not far behind. Figuring I was better off in a bigger group where I could hide in the draft better I didn't mind merging the groups. Over the first couple laps we picked up another 3 or 4 stragglers that couldn't hold the pace of the fast group. I made a point to pay attention to the time for the little climb (~20 seconds) and the distance from the top of that climb to the finish line (already forgotten, but enough to latch on and catch my breath). So the plan became to jump ahead of the group on the climb, latch onto whomever caught me afterwards while catching my breath and see if I could over-take my group on the sprint finish.
Hit the last lap climb mid-pack and jumped ahead near the crest. Several riders came by quickly afterwards so I really didn't have time to catch my breath. Latched onto the group figuring it was less than a mile of pain. At about 1000ft out I dropped down a gear and brought the cadence up. It wasn't really a sprint, but it was everything I had left in the tank. Our group of 6/7 finished within 2 seconds of each other. After accounting for DQs, I finished 4th of 17.
The best news of all, my first two laps were the *slowest*. My last two were the fastest and within a second of each other.
It looks like I beat my time on the course from last week by a whopping 2 seconds, though apparently at a significantly lower average HR.
After not doing the DD I had to give up a place on the dragon ride today because my eldest son had the audacity to have his birthday today
How inconsiderate
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