nc state road race and crit

I went down to North Carolina last weekend for the Wolfpack Cycling Classic weekend. This was my first race last year, so maybe it’s becoming a tradition. It hurt much more this year. The race was fifty-four miles of flat with some rolling terrain with two kicker hills, briefly put. Everything started out casual with conversation with familiar folks the first part of the race. A few attacks went off, and I covered a few that were probably going nowhere anyhow. It seemed like wasted energy in reflection. A few danglers were out from nearing the end, and the pack quickly approached them before the end of the sprint finish. I ended tenth in the sprint.

The crit the next day was quicker than I was hoping for, but it seemed it like a good idea on the start line when the official told us they were shortening the race by a few minutes. I had a great starting spot, and went with an attack early only to pull the group back. I had trouble getting off the front at that point, which made the recovery seem harder. I was a bit more cautious in the cornering than I would have preferred to have been, but with the way last year ended I was a little gun shy. Once again, there was a dangler out front nearing the last lap, and we were slowly catching him. A recognizably strong guy went to the front. He appeared to be pulling us back when in fact he was slowing us down, but this was on comprehendible after the fact. At any rate, I came in tenth again in the sprint. Sort of frustrating, but it’s only February after all, right?

-david