Why do I look pissed, angry at the world? Not because I've managed to isolate the source of my lower back pains and have resolved it, not because I just got passed... because I totally screwed up the sprint for the hole shot by not clipping in quick enough and not being as aggressive as I should be.
As seems to be the case, I was slowly and steadily picked up and dropped by several riders through the three laps in my 4b's race, which wouldn't have bothered me if I hadn't been 20th+ at the first corner. I almost puked three different times, and every time I looked down at my Garmin, it further confirmed that I was "doing it right", with an average 183bpm on the course.
I finished in the top half, 37th our of 73 starters. 7 places away from points that would have helped the team's overall standings, but it was still a fun race. I've found my ability to corner at speed while staying off the brakes, and seem to have figured out what kind of tire pressure I can run in order to keep the tire on the rim. Those two combined to give me some pretty good efficiency through the technical sections - I was making ground on people and felt really good about the race. The "heckle hill" run-up was a different story - A knobbier rear would have helped as I was spinning out 3/4 of the way up the hill pretty much every time. I'll definitely be throwing my other set of tires in the trunk just in case the St. Charles race is similarly muddy.
Looking at me next to the other guys out there, it's safe to say that I'm the biggest guy in the race. Sure, I've got surplus kilos on me, but don't we all this time of year? Right after I finished and was dry heaving, a Bicycle Heaven rider dismounted and laid in the grass next to his buddies. As he's laying there, panting...
Rider: "Man, I couldn't catch that big xXx dude..."
Buddy: "Which one?"
Rider: "The fat fucker, on the Yellow Trek, man - I just couldn't get him!"
Me: "Uh, are you talking about me?"
Buddy: "Dude, he's right over there."
Rider (Rolls over to see me standing 15 feet away): "Oh yeah - dude, I couldn't catch you! Good riding"
I can only imagine where that conversation would have gone without my interjection. All I have to say about the situation is that if I had the body mass of that guy, there's a lot more people who wouldn't have been able to catch "the big xXx dude...on the yellow trek".
In other news, I didn't break anything!
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5 comments:
You're not fat, you're just big-boned. And those bones lay down some terrifying wattage...
dude my name is Bryan Fuller and It came out the complete wrong way. I SPENT THREE LAPS CHASING YOU TO NO AVAIL. And being 195 I am not that small myself. I appologize for the way in which it was said, but you should take it as a compliment because you totally owned me.
Ha - no worries, Bryan. I thought it was funny that you were even able to get such coherent sentences out immediately after finishing the race.
I'd love to be 195lb, then I could buy some carbon wheels... if you want to know what it's like to live in my world, ride with a 50lb backpack on.
I have solutions to your wheel problems....
....and I was standing next to Bryan when he said that. I was SOOOooooo laughing....at him.
Nice race! I decided to drop back to the 4B's for this week. Race ya to the corner!
It's more like gold anyway...
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