Category: 4/5
Result: Mid-pack

On Sunday, I got up at a god-awful time to head up to the Infineon Raceway to do the cat 4/5 criterium. It was a pretty nice event with a whole lot of different things going on simultaneously.

The 4/5 crit was off at 8am, and did something like 1.5 miles on the infield section of the motor racing track (4 minute laps). There were a little too many hairpin turns (4 in total!), but it was still a cool course. The start/finish straight was followed by a right-hand hairpin to double back past the start. There was then a left hairpin onto the drag strip. The first time up the drag strip there was a chorus of us pretending to be dragsters - cool! After the 1/4 mile drag, we climbed about half-way up the run-off hill before doing a right hairpin to make a swooping descent back to the final right hairpin and the start/finish.

I noticed on Saturday that my HR while exercising has changed bahaviour. It is now back to where I think it should be, and my LT was clearly around 176 bpm, rather than depressed around 163 like it has been quite often recently. However, my heart isn't used to working at that level for sustained periods, so the 19 mins above LT on the spectrum ride were being felt on Sunday. I was able to move round the bunch essentially at will for most of the race, including trying to get a move going at about half-distance. Not much was being let go, so I then sat in.

The ascents of the run-off hill were beginning to take their toll, especially as the wind was getting up and was a straight head-wind at that point. On the final time up the hill, there was naturally a slow down followed by an acceleration and it was important to be able to place yourself in the top 10 at the top of the hill to be able to stay there in preparation for the final corner and the sprint. Guess who wasn't there, not because he missed the moves, but because he didn't have it to get there? I finished 28th.

After the race, I wandered over to the dual slalom practice session. That was cool to watch. The fast guys are really able to get some air where it matters. There were a couple of close calls, but I didn't see any crashes. Yes Ziggy, Marla was there...

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