The Caboose

Tonight I had been planning on finally getting back out to Seward Park to race the Thursday night criterium held there. I had done a couple early in the year, but for the last month or two I haven't gotten out to any of them for various reasons, such as: other obligations (usually climbing out at Little Si), cloudy weather (I only race in sunshine unless it is cyclocross season), and general lack of fitness from not riding my bike much. Today the sun was shining, so this morning I resolved to leave work at 5:00 in order to make it to Seward in time for the B race which goes off at 6:00pm. This race is 45 minutes long and the field is composed of Cat. 3 and 4 riders. However, one thing led to another at work and I didn't end up leaving until 5:30, which didn't leave enough time to ride to the race, so my only choice was to try and race with the big boys, the A race which is made up of mostly Cat. 1 and 2 riders and goes off at 7:00pm for 60 minutes.
I was a little apprehensive since I had never raced with those greyhounds, and even with the best of fitness I wasn't sure if I could hang with them. Also, being a Cat. 4 road racer I wasn't sure if I was qualified, but I figured that with my new bike I at least looked the part of a Cat. 1 so I should get in there and give it a shot. If I average my Cat. 2 cyclocross license with my Cat. 4 road license I become a Cat. 3, which isn't so far off from a Cat. 2, so I convinced myself that I was justified afterall. The race started pretty fast and I definitely had to work hard coming out of the one real corner on the road, but aside from that I felt pretty comfortable sitting at the back. I definitely was in the drops and working pretty hard, but I managed to hang in there for the entire race, which I was pretty surprised about. Maybe I am not as weak as I thought I was! Or maybe being towed around for an hour by a bunch of people way stronger than you are isn't as hard as I thought it might be. In any case, I survived so maybe I'll try to keep the momentum going and keep getting my race fitness back in preparation for the start of the real cycling season... cyclocross! Hup hup hup!