Did I mention Karel got a new bike? No more Cervelo, moving on to Trek. He LOVES his super fast ride...the Trek Madone 5.2.
Of taking pictures. :)
Ok, so I guess I have some races to talk about.
Saturday morning I had a road race. Yes, you heard me right. My third weekend in a row of racing and my 2nd cycling road race in the past 3 weeks.
My race started at 7:30am and I think that made me a little less nervous. Since the race was 20 miles from our place and early in the morning, I kinda felt like it was just a morning of training. A morning of training with around 50 other guys and girls. The race was a combination of the 50+ men and all the women (cat 1,2,3 and 4). This was a big group but it actually made the race a lot more enjoyable. We averaged 25 mph for most of the race and there were a lot of attacks.
The course was around 6.5 miles and almost completely flat. I just loved it! What a difference compared to the GA races. There were 4 turns on the course and I felt a lot more confident with my sweeping turns. We did 6 loops to give us around 42 miles and with the words of my coach (karel) in my head "Stay on a wheel!!!" I ended up finishing with the pack. There was a small breakaway group of 4 people (2 girls, 2 guys) but we couldn't catch them. I even did some rotations and tried to stay in the front. Again, no sprinting legs for me so I finished with everyone, but 8th in the cat 4 group. I was still happy with my finish and I couldn't wait to watch Karel and the Linder Capital team. There are two new riders on the team (temporary riders from the Sweet Bay team) and the team is even stronger than before!
Since I don't have many opportunities to run after a bike race (except in a triathlon) I decided to put on my running shoes and go for a run. My legs were super tired and I took little breaks (to cheer of course) and I finished with a 40 min run. It was a great feeling to run right after pushing as hard as I could to the finish, whereas in a bike training ride, I usually end with an easy spin or warm-down.
So, after the 40 min run I drenched myself in water since I was burning up and super thirsy. I then headed to the feed zone so I could hand water bottles to the thirsty cyclists. The guys did 9 loops of the 6.5 course and every loop the field was changing. The finish was super exciting because Karel was in the breakaway group. Just like in all road races or crits, the team works together to cover attacks and make moves so that the strongest rider for the day (on the linder team) can try to get a win or a top place. It was Karel's turn on sat for the sprint to the finish. Karel's strength is sprinting and if it wasn't for a cramp in his leg, as he was sprinting, he may have taken the sprint for the win. But, Karel did get his highest finish for the year and placed 5th and brought back some money as well. The team did well and Karel was happy (and exhausted) with the race.
So, I passed on racing on sunday but I got in a great run in the morning. Not sure why I am putting in these long runs but I really enjoy seeing myself get stronger with each run. I ran 1:48 and felt great. Very hot and thirsty (even with my fuel belt) but I still enjoyed my hot run.
I passed on my spin post-run so that I could relax and eat my breakfast before we headed to the crit.
Again, it was super hot and I didn't think I would make it for Karel's race. I had shaky legs and I was SOOOOO hot and the races were running behind. But that is ok, I couldn't wait to take pictures of the guys. The team did great once again but this time the team worked together for a win. Curtis won the race (and the 35+ race as well) and the team also had 2 other guys in the top 6!
Karel and some of the other guys covered attacks so that the chase group wouldn't catch the breakaway group (curtis and shawn) and Karel said the team really worked well together. Sounds good to me!!
Well, back to watching the Olympics.