San Fairy Ann 2 - Excuses excuses.

That was really tough. I haven't struggled so much in a race before.

It was another windy afternoon at Hog Hill with a field of around 50 riders. From the start I found the pace a bit hard going, with every ascent of the hill taking me right to the edge.
There was another early breakaway, and I saw it go, but I knew that trying to go with it would finish me off. So I stayed in the pack working a little to bring it back, but like last week whoever came to the front seemed reluctant to work.
I mooched about a bit mid-pack for most of the race trying to keep out of the wind. Trying to save some effort, I would start some of the climbs near the front and let a few people come past, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I was barely hanging on.

I got into to a couple breaks that formed because of the wind, I'd come through to keep the pace constant and to force the gap, then pull off and let someone come through, but they wouldn't! So both breaks got swallowed up. Theses efforts cost me later on.

On the last lap, I tried to keep near the front, but kept finding myself exposed to the wind which I didn't feel strong enough to push through. On the bottom straight I was second wheel behind a guy that was keeping a good pace and he strung out the pack. On the climb I jumped him, and had about 5 metres in first place, but my legs just cramped and I lost spirit as others came past at a speed I just couldn't react to.
I pushed on up the climb and crossed the line 12th overall and 9th out of the pack. A big disappointment compared to my expectations before the race.

The excuses? Althought I can't say I would have done any better in different with the following excuses, I'll air them anyway.
- I didn't sleep at all the night before the race because my daughter was awake being sick!
- I punctured on the way to the race and had three large cuts in my front tyre. Although time was already tight I had to find/buy/fit a new tyre and then ride tempo with my club mates to make the start of the race. Stress up - energy down.
- I've had a busy and stressful week with preparations for the move. Excuses, excuses.

I didn't take the powertap wheel as I wanted to try out my racier wheels to see what difference they might make. They made diddly squat difference. In my mind, saving 200 gram of rotational weight should have been an advantage, but in hindsight I wish I had the powertap data to look at both during and after the race.

All I have is the heart rate data which tells me I spent 40 minutes at or above my threshold heart rate, and 15 minutes at VO2 Max. Not very different to the week before, and a good workout if not a great result.