Picking up the pieces

After having been away from home for a week and a half (seems longer), I am finally back where I belong. While Redlands is especially nice this time of year, there truly is no place like home.

I officially kicked off the race season in San Dimas this past weekend. This race in my mind was listed as one of my priority races. I knew the course from last year and had already written my victory speech blog entry. The time trial was hard but I managed to secure a solid third place and only 27 seconds behind the leader. The road race I won on a solo break beating the pack by nearly a minute. The crit was more ceremonial than anything and ended with me still standing atop the podium as GC winner.

Unfortunately, that is not how the story really played out. The true story went something like this: I sucked ass on the TT, sucked even more ass on the road race, and because of all the ass sucking the previous two days, I was not allowed to suck any more ass for the crit.

For me, the weekend will be remembered for the road race. I was out of the race before it really began. The race was on a 7 mile circuit with one KOM climb (not very long, but really steep). The first time up the climb, I slid to the back as my heart was about to come through my chest. Near the top of the climb, I popped. Unfortunately I could not chase back on and that was it. I was out of the race before the first lap was complete. As I approached the start/finish I was ready to call it a day. However instead of pulling off, I kept going. I knew inside that I had to keep racing until I finished the race or until I was pulled. I was later joined by another rider and together we urged each other on until ultimately we were pulled from the race.

I will analyze things trying to pin down what went so wrong, but in the end I will take the advice of Mark and “just be Manny”. Thanks for the tip and a place to crash.

Be sure to take a look at the photos Lisa took at the race. There are some great shots in there.

Don’t suck so much ass,

J-Rod