Having been feeling overly 'woe is me' for no good reason the past week, the intensity of a good hit out definitely lifted my mood somewhat.
The average speed of the race being mid-high 40's, in addition to the fact that it was a 'points' race (ie: prime every lap) meant that it was a great little threshold boosting exercise. I was surprised my legs were okay after some decent—but very grumpy—km's the day before.
 |
| It was a reasonably fast crit (middle, fast bit). Sorry the only pictures for this post I have are nerdy, |
There is nothing I love more than turning up in MTB kit to a road race and racing B-grade men who pretty much invariably have ridiculously expensive bikes complete with DI-2 and deep-dish wheels, and then being a woman out there with an alloy roadie and training (ie: cheap and bombproof, awesome!) tyres having digs. And digs I did have.
Having nothing to loose, I gave the 'points' a few digs, the closest to actually winning a lap sprint and thus a point was me rolling through in third, but the training and physiological benefit from turning yourself inside out again and again can't be diminished. In my opinion...having previously raced crits for training, a bit of a smashfest, and for a good dose of endorphins and mental health, the point of 'saving yourself' for the final sprint seems pretty futile; especially as a female rider.
There were other women in our race, though I only ever saw one other who just sat in the top third of the bunch for pretty much the whole race. There is nothing wrong with this at all, if you are saving yourself to be the first woman over the line (and in the end, I was sprinting on my lonesome into the wind with a silent scream-face, and she came from off my wheel—didn't even know she was there—and pipped me by no more than an inch on the line. I am not a tactician, clearly) but isn't it more fun mixing it up a bit?
Perhaps one day I will get some street smarts and win something on the road. Maybe. It's not a priority but it could be fun.
I didn't feel like I was going to blow up at all! Win!
I checked my data at the end of the day (I rode to work straight after the race) and it looks like, indeed, the digs did hurt me as I peaked in the mid 190's several times. Yeowch. I am not sure how much longer I would have been able to ride at this intensity without the holy mushroom cloud, it is pretty much all above threshold, but I didn't feel bad. Weird!
 |
| Cruising along the bike path, followed by waiting for the race and at about 1.06.00 it was on! The end is just riding to work, in a sort-of hurry. |
It does give me a bit of confidence though, being able to mix it up a bit, not just 'hang on'. Who knows though, I am racing the Twilight Series on Wednesday, and apparently B grade is a bit more 'ouch' with the bigger hitters turning up. I am excited for a challenge!