Yesterday we had a race in Geluwe, which is about 20k from Izegem. It was a pretty sketchy race with a lot of small farm roads with lots of corners and a cool little 500 meter cobbled climb. The race was about 160k and on a circuit we did 13 times. I was pretty good about staying near the front to keep out of the crashes (which was good... I could hear them happening behind me). A pretty solid looking break went up the road on one of the small farm roads and I wasn't top 5, so there was no trying to go across to it. The whole peleton sat up and watched them go just long enough to let the gap get a little too big. When the chase started, we hit some S curves that were off camber and pretty slick... a few guys near the front went down which opened up another gap... The group of 10 guys on the front kept going while the field tried to get around the downed riders. Luckily we hit some wider roads with quite a few corners and I was able to bridge up to the guys who got off the front. It wasn't long till the rest of the peleton was on our heels though... After we got caught, I figured it was a good time to try to eat something. Unfortunately, when I started unwrapping my bar, the peleton started hammering up to the cobbled climb. I wasn't real worried and I was pretty hammered from bridging up to that break still, so I slowly got up to speed (in an effort to keep my heart rate from shooting through the roof again). It turned out I dropped a little too far back and the front of the pack drilled it up the cobbled climb, leaving big gaps between riders at the top. I jammed around guys left and right to get back to the main peleton (that was single file) and finally made it across with a few other guys. In about 10 minutes I shot my heart rate up super high twice (two bullets) plus fireing a couple to stay at the front early on... Then after getting back on the guy in front of me opens a gap... Another bullet to close that gap... then I make it up the last little climb of the day just before we make a right hander onto a big road (which is where things would normally bunch up a little, allowing you to rest for maybe a minute)... Guess what... the guy in front of me gets too relaxed and lets the wheel go again... The pack is a little bit bunched up, but they're still flying... so bridging across is still pretty tough... I tried to go across but was hammered and told the guy who let the wheel go that if he wants back in this race, he needs to undo his mistake... The dude worked hard, but he closed it... We both lost our opportunity to rest for a second too... We tagged back on the back of what was left of the peleton and hung on for dear life. I made it up the cobbled climb the next time with the same results as the previous lap, forcing me to work hard to close gap after gap. That is the price you pay for being at the back... Unfortunately once you're there when it's going that hard, it is extremely hard to move up. If you can move up, you usually spend so much energy doing it that you drop back to the back anyways after a few minutes. I was closing gaps up to the base of the next little climb when I finally got back into the even more widdled down peleton and popped halfway up. I mean exploded big time... peices of Jason everywhere... I was feeling the onsets of cramping for about 10 minutes and on that climb, the legs locked up... I was done...
I was pretty dissapointed with how things went down for me... I was riding well, but at that hour and a half point things went south real quick. The race unfolded a lot differently than most of the races I have done up to this point. The race was going pretty quick for the first hour, which was normal... I saw the move go and bridged up to it (which I would do again)... What I didn't count on was the race going that much harder and faster than it was already... To top things off it went super hard right after I made a huge effort (to me, that was a race determining move and worth putting everything out there to get in it), which dropped me straight to the back (the point of no return)... I have been at the back before in races of that caliber and it has gotten hard, but yesterday was the first time I have seen it where you see so many gaps open up that you don't think things will come back together. Once you get stuck in the back and the pace continues like that, there is no moving up and the focus has to shift to survival mode. I freaked out and rode very hard around every person I could until I popped... But you know what, those guys I rode around got back in and if I sat on their wheels long enough to get back on, I probably would have been fine (In that respect)... I also missed a feed and it was a hot day for Belgium making it real easy to get dehydrated... I have also been feeling fatigue in the legs that doesn't seem to be subsiding with adapting to the racing... I think it is all the racing and training I have done here so far catching up with me a little bit. If I take a couple days of resting I think I should be back to normal and a little more resilient... I don't think I will be able to rest as much as I need while I'm here, but I can certainly limit the damage by taking 2 days kind of easy... That's about it for now...
J signing off...
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