A little behind with posting reports:
Sunday started early for us—on the road by 5AM. It was an easy drive for me because I got to cat nap until the sun came up.
We got to Tolono a little before eight and picked up our race numbers. I was surprised at how few racers there were. Sam got the bikes ready and we headed out to preview the course. I was glad I had packed my arm warmers because it was chilly. The warm up was good, the course was mostly flat, but there were a lot of false flats along the way. I was disappointed that I still wasn’t getting a cadence reading on the bike but figured if I should know the feel of what I needed to do.
We rode out about 15 minutes. The roads were smooth and had little to no traffic. When we turned around to head back, it became very clear that the wind would play a role on the second half of the race.
We got back and were Gu-ing when Sam realized he had a flat. Of course he was too hard headed to just switch wheels, so I went to line up while he changed his tire.
Everyone in the starting order was friendly and chatty. Some guy swore we’d met because I rode for Veloforce and he went to Heather’s wedding. Whoever Heather is…
The race got started about 10 minutes late. I was 9th in the order. There was one guy between Sam and me and a girl behind Sam, so I was hoping I had a good chance of not being passed a lot. I rolled up to the line and happily accepted a holder. What a change eight months has made! The official blew the whistle and I was off. I was in the right gear and got rolling well. My heart rate skyrocketed off the start, so I spent the first two miles concentrating on my breathing and getting it into check. I felt great and was holding a 21+ speed with a nice effort. Around that time, out of nowhere it seemed, the guy behind me flew past. WTF!!! It usually takes seven minutes or so. I did a little self talk and kept pedaling. The organizer had a lot of volunteers stationed along the course so it periodically there were cheers from various folks. I finished the first quarter and felt good. I kept telling myself to keep my pace and effort steady.
Before long I started seeing the riders on the way back. I was close to the cone. I felt much steadier on the turn around this race—more comfort on the bike. There was some loose rock and my rear wheel skidded a bit, but I kept it up right and kept going. As predicted, the ride home was hard. The wind was a killer—either straight on head wind or a diagonal head wind. My speed dropped but I concentrated on keeping my cadence up. I ended up dropping into my small ring about 1.5 miles into the return. I maintained my speed when I did it, but it was much easier on me. 40-50 minutes in to the race were the most difficult, mentally more than anything. During that ten minute span, I was passed six times. I felt like I was sitting still. When I hit the three quarters mark, I popped back into the big ring and pushed as hard as I could to hold it. This was also the false flat uphill section of the course. I just kept my head down and kept going. The finish line finally came into view and I gave all I had. When I looked at the time, I really pushed to try to get in under 1:10:00. I didn’t quite make it, but I was happy with the improvement over Jeff City.
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