We drove up Friday and stayed with Allie's family in Grand Rapids. Then the next morning we drove to East Lansing for the road race. It was pretty cold out and there were winds above 20mph and there was a dirt section so it turned out to be a pretty tough race. A decent sized group of people rolled off near the beginning and we were content with our people in there so we pretty much just sat around for a few laps. Halfway through the race a chase group formed and I waited a while to let it get a gap before I tried to bridge. I made sure to go alone and not bring anyone and managed to bridge up to Cory (RGF teammate racing for Xavier) who was in between groups. We worked really hard for a while to close the gap down but every time we got close the group would pick it up and leave us to suffer in the wind. We didn't close the gap, but we caught and passed a few people who got dropped and held off the field so I felt good about the fitness. Riding with just 2 people chasing a group of 5 keeping the same gap for 25 miles isn't all that fun, but it was a good test of strength.
The next day was a crit in Ann Arbor and my family and some good friends came to watch.
I damaged my AR frame while training this week, luckily I still had the team bike from last year so I got to ride that decked out with our new SRAM Force Parts. The stuff is awesome, shifting is so comfortable in the drops.
The crit was a wide open fast course with a gradual climb and a downhill headwind section. It was a lot of attacks and chasing them down. I was up front most of the race and on a prime lap a couple of people picked it up to gap the field and I broke away to win the prime. We regrouped and worked together to try and make it work. We stayed away for a good while, but we had too many people and some slow people were ruining the flow. We got caught by the field and instantly it was another surge of attacks and another prime lap came up. I managed to split away from the field again and get another prime and this time it was a smaller group with just the stronger people.
We worked together really well and were about to lap the field with a few laps to go but we eased up so it wouldn't ruin our finish.
Half of the group attacked early on the last lap and so it was a really intense lap trying to close the gap down and still sprint. I was pretty worn out and ended up 3rd, though I did get more points than the winner with all of my primes so I was pretty happy about it.It was a fun weekend for sure. I was so happy to be able to put a good performance on in front of my family and friends. I'm starting to feel really good again on the bike and the finishing speed should start coming around soon.
Regionals are at Purdue this upcoming weekend and only 2 more weeks of school and then exams. Summer is so close...
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