I'm not feeling particularly wordy today, so this will be shorter than usual. They combined the 3 and 12 fields due to small fields, and increased the distance of our race from 51 miles (3 laps) to 68 miles (4 laps). Cat 3's were still scored seperately, and to be honest I was perfectly ok with this change. Racing with 14 guys wouldn't have been that fun. The course had 2 climbs, the first one was gradual with a steep section at the end (1.6km long), second one was pretty steady, some stair steppy sections, 6% for 2km.
Legs felt really good going into the race, and during warm up. First lap felt good, matched a couple of attacks on the first climb, split up a bit on the second climb I was in group '2'. Probably could have gone with group one but I was boxed in and it all came back together on the descent. Brendan Housler, David Richardson and a couple other attacked on the flatish section. I knew I couldn't go there, it was a headwind... and flat. Sat in, no one chased... ever. 2nd time up the climbs was uneventful, it split again, i was in the wrong spot when it did but again it came back together. Third time up I was feeling pretty good, weakening but others seemed to have faded more. Then I hit a brick wall, I bonked.
I had only eaten one cliff bar because I felt like puking everytime I ate, and 2.5 hours into the race I hit that point where glycogen stores were not were they needed to be. I started fading fast. I fell back to the 3rd group on the road, worked with their rotation a bit then faded more and more.... and was out the back. I slowed up, tried to eat more, rode endurance pace in. A bit frustrated and dissapointed, nothing I could really do about the lack of cooperation and working to pull back the leaders. I could have done something about the food. I need to figure this out, ASAP. Don't want any more ruined races due to food issues. Ended up getting 9th/14. Not THAT bad all considering. On a high note, my legs felt good.
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