Cat 3, Here I Come

After spending 3 days last week sick in bed I wasn't really sure if I’d be up for the local Spring Series races this past weekend but when I woke up on Saturday feeling better and without a fever I decided I might as well have a go at it.

I did the B (Cat 3/4) Race on Saturday at Waterford and it was fairly uneventful. I think it was 50 minutes plus two laps and things stayed together for almost the whole time with a few little attacks but nobody getting much of a gap at all. Just inside 15 minutes to go as we were pulling back one of those attacks I countered and managed to get a little bit of a gap. I was hoping someone would bridge so I could have someone to share the work with but when I realized nobody was coming I dug down and did what I could. I was still feeling a little weak after being sick and what I had wasn't enough. As I was crossing the start/finish inside two to go I realized the gap was down to about 5 seconds and there was no way I was holding the field off for two more laps. I sat up and joined the field to try and salvage something for the finish. As things ramped up at the end I didn't have anything left after my solo time off the front and I rolled in with the field for 19th.

Sunday I doubled up and did the C (Cat 4/5) and B (Cat 3/4) Races for the Ann Arbor Spring Training Series. The course was a short 1km football shape with a 200m rise to the finish from the last corner. The C Race was first and you can hardly call it a race it was so short at 15 minutes plus 3 laps. I spent a lot of time at the front and felt pretty within myself. I managed to win the sprint for the prime and at the end I positioned myself pretty well going in to the final corner in 5th position but I didn't seem to have enough jump to contest the finish and came across in 3rd. Next up was the B Race, again pretty short at 25 minutes plus 3 laps. Attacks were coming from the gun and I got in a couple that had small gaps in the first few laps but nothing that stuck. Then about 5 minutes in a rider for AAVC jumped and I noticed he had 3 teammates at the front of the field slowing things up so this was my chance to get in something that might have a chance at staying away. It took me almost an entire lap to bridge and once I got up to him we really went to work. We got in to a great rhythm of each pulling half a lap and we grew our gap to over 30 seconds over the field. As things wound down a couple chasers left the field and got within twenty seconds of us as the field fell back to 40 seconds down. As I heard those gaps as we came around and saw 2 laps to go I knew we had things locked up. Again I couldn't sprint (I'm sure the uphill finish didn't help since I probably had 40+ lbs on my partner in the break), which seems to be a common theme for me lately, and took last in our two man race for the line, but good enough for 2nd place. Still a result that I'm really happy with and even happier with the way it came together. I've never been able to get in a break in a crit that worked before this result which makes it that much more satisfying.

Two races in one day with a 3rd place and a 2nd place finish was my first success of the year and it felt great to finally get some results. On top of that it was also enough to get me my upgrade, so Cat 3, here I come. Next up is another running of the Waterford Spring Training Series on Saturday.