Benchmarks

Ugg, a little behind here, but I thought I'd jot down some stuff in my head. Last Saturday was the Air Force Clarendon Cup Criterium. You can read some more stuff about it at our team blog (see link over on the right). Back in 2009 at this race, my first year into cycling, I was a newly minted Category 4 rider ready to jump into the masters field. I think it was 35+ at that time. Well, I got completely and utterly shelled during that race. I was dropped after about 8 laps when my little group got split away from the field. It was the first time I ever thought about faking a mechanical so I could drop out...just prayed for a flat tire or something! I'll never forget that day.

Now 2 years later and I'm back for some redemption. I think it's safe to say that I've improved a lot between now and then. Not only physically, but mentally and skill wise as well.

In short, the race was really fun and tough. I made the moves necessary to get myself in contention with the contenders roughly a 1/3 of the way into the race. It was great to have a teammate in the move. Sure, in hindsight we should have played this out differently, but it is what is. I finished 9th, and as strange as it sounds, I felt really, really good about it. This was a big benchmark for me to compare where I was at just 2 years ago.

Here's some video of the race Igda shot:


Igda, Emi & I had a great brunch afterward while we got to watch the 123 race and then the Men's Pro Race.

Post Race with teammate Scott:

With Igda:

Brunch:

Pro Race spectating:

A GREAT shot of Emi with Hilton Clarke from UHC (the winner):

We're heading up to Hagerstown, MD for the Tour of Washington County tomorrow. LOTS of racing on tap for the weekend!!!!