ACCCCCCCCC Crit

I lapped the field with 8 others in the crit. It started as 4, then I bridged up solo over a half lap. Then over the next 20 minutes 4 others joined our group making it 9.

Joey and Winck made the break strong.

We lapped the field with 1 lap to go. Here is a picture of us right when we caught the field.

The breakaway just joined on the back-left side of the photo.

When we caught the field BW tried to get me through to the front, but I couldn't hold his wheel. I started my seated sprint from the back of the field, went as fast as a I could, and watched as the back of the field rode away from me. I was 8th, second to last of the break. I should have done better, I was very disappointed with myself. It was one of those races where you swear really loudly on the backside of the course during your cool-down lap.

Yet again Joey laps the field, then goes on to beat everybody in the field sprint. I have no idea how he does it.

After the race we had the award ceremonies for the conference. The VT team did well, winning the Men's A, Women's A and Men's C overall, and second in the team competition to Navy.

Up next is collegiate nationals. My training for conferences was to taper for 4 weeks, and I did not have the legs in the end. I think this time I will train hard for the next 2 weeks, then take an easy week before nationals.

F*&KING CONFERENCES

Two words: BW is the man. BW is like a mechanical pencil. You use him for awhile, but then you run out of lead, so you put him in your backpack. Then, the day of your final exam, when you don't have any other writing utensils, you pull out Ben and desperately try to get more lead. Turns out there was one piece left, and you get an 'A-' on the test.

Ben Warren was third for the day, but not before going off the front solo for 3 out of the 6 laps.


2 words, bad luck. Webb flatted the second lap. Eoin fell and hit his head, got back into the group, then flatted on the last lap. Tim broke a spoke. Still 3rd and 4th (Ben and Reid respectively) with the only two teammates left in the field is pretty good.

Kudos to the Men's B squad for setting the fastest time on the course in the TTT (including the men's A), with a time of 56 plus change. Over 26 mph average.



Kudos to the Men's D, Andy wants it. He deserves if for speed walking the crit course on a full stomach after the banquet with J Frink.



Good Luck in the crit tomorrow. Thanks, I need it.

JZ

Guest Blog Post

jz's given me the opportunity to guest post, i'm over at his place watching the office, so i have some time to recall one of the better stories i know about jz

jz's training is probably going pretty well, he's a man of understatement so you never really know how much riding hes doing or how its going but it looks like he's shaving his legs and right now he's doing a bike fit with sara so right now the priority is the bike

i was at the race on Saturday really gutsy riding by the vt squad, i'll turn it over to jz now because he has quite the story to tell

ok well race morning i wasn't sure how things would go, training without the powertap this last month has been difficult, but going back to riding by feel makes you feel closer to the bike, and much closer to the effort of riding hard, the feeling of your lungs in your throat, your chest hurting so much after a hard effort that you think your lungs are trying to leap out of your chest, squinting like the pain will stop if you shut your eyes

i felt that pain saturday morning at the road race, after the roll out, i started riding tempo at the front of the field, not hard, but i just rolled of the front, after a glance back, i really put some hard pedalling in and spent the next thirty miles off the front, i envisioned my power animal, i saw myself riding through a hurricane, i am a warrior preparing for battle, i'm on the front line of the battle field

i just had my pubic synthesis reset, oh yeah, my socks dont match