Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Altamont Crit

Well this is a follow up to Jeff’s post on the New York Capital Region Road Race.  I know it is a bit delayed but it has been one hell of a week for me.  Quick recap...  In the last week I have raced twice, gotten sick, found a roommate, lost a roommate, found a new roommate, then gained two roommates, talked with iPhone vendors, looked at way to much code,  gone through new tour guide training, researched QR codes, sold my bike, sold a car, bought new bike, talked with google about maps, gained a mouse, and…yeah I think that is it.  I guess not to bad of a week, considering I did most of this on top of my regular 45hr/wk job.    
Steve and I chasing...TPP on our wheels

            So back on track.  At first Jeff was not going to race on Sunday however was talked into it.  I then looked at the times and we didn’t go off until 2:10pm…what BS!  Now I don’t typically mind racing later in the day however I was staying at a hosts house and still had a 4+hr drive ahead of me after the race.  This was one day where I really just wanted to get back home after the race. 
            Jeff and I showed up to the race on time however spent a little too much time chatting with a friend of mine who lived on the course.  We towed the line with zero warm up, not exactly the best of plans.  I maintained pretty good position throughout the race staying up near the front, covering moves, ended up in a short lived break with a farm team rider, and yeah, pretty happy. 
            Eventually Allen Rego (now a cat 2 rider) and Jim Walker (TPP) make it off the front.  Jim had some good blocking in the small field and half the riders apparently had never seen blocking before and were too dumb to notice what was going on.  Steve Wells and I did a lot of work trading pulls with TPP members sitting on our wheels not letting anyone pull through.  Long story short, break stuck and I was too spent to do anything in the sprint and finished 9th overall and 2nd of the Cat 4’s.  Jeff was pulled with a few laps to go but rode well in a strong field of mostly 3’s.  I was pretty impressed with TPP's performance.  One of the reasons I left besides proximity was the lack of a team feel, this obviously has changed some this year within TPP.
            I have not really done much riding since this race and my season is mostly over with work picking up.  What to expect from my future of cycling?  Well one more race in Portsmouth, NH, working with a mountain biking advocacy group, and also possibly maybe considering coaching a few athletes.  We shall see about the later of the three. 

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