Opening Day Wisco- Belgian Style

Photo of Anna wearing her "foot warmers"

Holy Mackerel. Eikes and I were driving up to Sheboygan to meet Anna and Kate, who had gone earlier to so Kate could race the cat 4 race (she did great and took 3rd). The entire drive was in the rain and as we'd gotten home late from Hillsboro there wasn't a lot of turnaround time to repack. I thought I had pretty much everything in my bag already but au contraire. I had a lot in my bag but wound up using Kate's arm and leg warmers and also had to use my sushi hat under my helmet to stay warm. At least I had full finger gloves.

The photo above is of Anna, warming up in the car with leg warmers on her feet. Anna has been hammered at school this semester but she bravely came out to get some early season suffering in. The four of us looked like we'd crawled through the mud at the end of the race. Our jerseys were as brown as our faces and even better, when we took off our shorts there was mud on the inside! Rachel showed me her shorts and it made me think of the proverbial "pooed in your pants" comment (this is a family friendly blog) but it was all mud.

I like racing in the rain and was really getting into the disgusting mud bath we were riding in. I'm still amazed that I have form for not putting in any base this year. I now have two races in me which means I should be peaking in about a week. (Do not try this training plan on anything less than 10 years of racing).

Anyway, Rachel made a good showing on Saturay, staying with the lead group and coming home 12th at the Hillsboro Roubaix. Kate took 3rd in the cat 4 race with a nice sprint at the finish. I dropped out after 2 laps, feeling the effects of no sleep and lifting the day before but most definitely felt ok while I was in there. Well, except when I tried to bridge up to a break. Wind was the key factor in the race and I watched solo attempt after solo attempt get 40 meters in front of the field, dangle a bit then get reabsorbed into the group. After seeing a few suicide attempts in the first lap I tried talking to other riders and getting a break away with one of everyone but alas, solo attacks, no counters from teammates, etc. were the rule of the day. I tried to bridge into a break and learned just how far I could push on the amount of training I've done. I wound up otb but it was still a very productive day.

Yesterday Kate grabbed 3rd again in the cat 4 race in Sheboygan, and had no problems at all in the open race. I wound up in a break with two teammates (not mine) and got in a fine hill repeat workout. The hill wasn't wasn't long and I wanted a hard effort from the day and it worked out great. I wound up 3rd, after mistaking one of my break companions for a different rider. Everyone looked the same shade of brown at the end of the race and I thought it was a lapped rider and let it go. O well, Tis racing. Good reminder to take a closer look at who is rolling by.

I went straight from the race to the Bombay Bike Club meeting where I gave a talk to the group (about 70) on racing. Apparently some of the club riders are interested in racing so I tried to give them some ideas of how to start and what to think about. i left behind waterbottles and some udderly smooth which I think they liked.

That reminds, me, I forgot to use udderly smooth in the race yesterday. I really notice it when I don't use it.

Betsy2 got 2nd in her race out east yesterday. She got in a break and it was her first race. Her break companion was a good sprinter but Betsy gave it a go and came away with an excellent result for a first race. Good to have those first races out of the way. Time to start fine tuning!
til soon,
dq
PS: Gabby says hi to all; here she is lounging on the couch a few minutes ago.