Got a call up as the series leader in my age group, which will probably be the one and only time that ever happens. Clayton got a call up as well, and we rolled to the line and got ready to drop the hammer.
Clayton tore ass down the road and up the first climb. I was sitting 3rd going into the singletrack, and was really hoping my heart rate would come down a bit. Started Lap 1 huffing and puffing but hanging on. Played leapfrog a bit with another guy in my group and we started passing a few of the Expert women. I was blowing up big time, so I let a handful of people around on my next lap. Grabbed my gel flask only to notice that the top had opened and everything had leaked out. No fuel for me and I was struggling.
I don't know if it's because I was that tired and on the verge of bonking or if it's because I'm so used to starting my laps there in the front lot but I thought I still had one more lap to do. So, as I'm coming out of Section 3, I eased off the gas a bit to save something for one and a half more laps. Made it through 4, recovered a bit in 1 and when I got towards the end of 2 I could hear Zilla announcing something about Comp leaders coming to the finish. Huh? Got passed by Scott and asked him if we had another lap and he said, "I sure hope not!". Grabbed his wheel and followed him to the finish.
Had I known that was my last lap I would have pushed it a little bit, but I was pretty much in no-mans-land so I'm not sure I could have caught anyone or if I had the legs to go much faster than I did. Gel flask is going in the recycling bin and I'm going back to gel packs. Pretty disappointing race for me, 5th place when I had realistic hopes of reaching the podium. I guess it cancels out my Spring Cup result.
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Don't sweat one bad race bro! It wasn't even that bad anyway - almost top 20 OA. You were probably just going through TDF withdrawl.
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