Lehigh Valley Winery Criterium race report

First off, I forgot to give an update on my races in the last few weeks. Why? Because I didn't do any of the planned races, and I did one that was not under the "planned races" section of my blog (the AP Finals which is the previous post). Sorry...

Yesterday was the Lehigh Valley Winery Criterium, another race I did last year, and the race that my club is the host. What does that mean? I had to get up at 4:00 am, to be at the race location by 5:30, only to find out I would just stand around and talk to the mothers of the junior racers on the team. Ok, so I did help put up the start/finish line which involved a teammate climbing into the tree, but that was pretty much it and only took 15-20 minutes.

The course is 1.3 miles long, a downhill at the beginning and two climbs with a false flat in between them at the end.

at 7am, I got back to my car, unpacked my bike and got ready for the race. Ate a banana and a chocolate chip muffin, drank a lot of sports drink, and just warmed up in the parking lot and on the race course. at 8:30, my race went off.

Feeling very comfortable, I actually stayed in the field for 2.5 laps. However, the pace picked up on the first climb on the 3rd lap (which made no sense to me) and I did get dropped. My legs felt like they were lead at this point and I kept considering just dropping out. I kept going though, and with a few laps to go I did get lapped. However, I just caught on to the back of the field and did a lap with them, which helped me catch up to a racer ahead of me on the same lap. Him and I then rode the last 1.5 laps together and it came down to a sprint finish. This is byfar, the FIRST and ONLY time anyone has beaten me out in a sprint. I was spinning in too low of a gear, while he just kept inching away from me. I gave up about 20 yards from the finish line because I wasn't in a sprinting gear.

I got 2nd to last place (19/20) but there was at least 22 starters. I think I did better last year than I did this year at this race.

Possibly another race next week, I would just have to give up a some soccer games I am scheduled to officiate in order to do this race, since it is on the other side of the NJ/PA border, but only 30 minutes from my school. Even though it might be possible to do all, it would be too much driving for me. I will update later this week.