Hi all,
Hoped to have a good few races on Saturday in Sherman Park as it was my first team race event. I also never was in Sherman Park before. The rain came and went but left a wet course for my race of 30+.
We had about 5 or 6 xXx's in the field and the pace was hot for the first few laps. After, another team came back to the pack I took a flyer to make sure xXx was represented well. After being picked up I just worked to make sure I could hang in and make sure xXx was represented. There was a break of 4 up the road and I sat on the front two who were trying to bring back the group. The 4 was every team and no doubled team mates. xXx was represented well.
The guys I were sitting on had another team mate come up after 3 laps and blow off. A number of other riders took off and I tried to get on as there wasn't a xXx'er in that split. I gave it all I had but could not bridge up. After about half the course I was in no mans land and figured to wait for the pack. Well they came blowing by and I slipped right through to the back.
I ended up finishing the race solo for a long while and picking up another guy on the 2nd to last lap. The two of us were lapped at the finish. Did I give it enough to try and get to the attack? I looked at my race numbers after wards and I was at my upper limits. I can't help but wonder if I could have gone 30 seconds more. Or pushed harder to get close. Any ideas out there for how to figure that? My heart rate and wattage was pretty high for me but not max. I was a bit spent though.
Well as I was recovering for the 40+ race right after I took off my hat and some how it ended up in my rear derailer at some point. Well the damage was done, 7 blown spokes on the Zipp wheel, derailer mangled beyond recognition and of course my broken derailer hanger. Maybe it wasn't meant to be for me this year in Sherman park. Nice race though. I marshalled after wards and was very impressed with the whole team turn out for the race. Great job xXx'ers!
Tom