So, maybe I just suck...I'm still working on getting my legs back for fast rides, and this race was better than last week's, but I still got dropped. I lasted a little under 20 miles before losing the pack this time, but it was almost more of a tactical error than a lack of fitness. The course was a 10ish mile loop that we would repeat 4 times after a neutral roll out, and there was a 1+ mile stretch of dirt/gravel road in the middle of each lap. The first lap was relatively uneventful, with the exception of the group actually accelerating a bit on the dirt stretch, which was rather disconcerting, since it was pretty loose gravel in places. The second lap started well enough, until we hit the dirt again. This time I was toward the back of the main pack, and the group really accelerated once hitting the dirt, and I got separated a bit, along with a few other guys. Once we got through that section, there was a bit of a gap, and of course the next section was the only real "hill" on the course and some rollers, and I went really hard for the next 5-10 minutes to try to grab back onto the tail of the group, but just couldn't get there. My average wattage was actually 50 watts higher in the 10 minutes following getting dropped than it was while I was in the pack, so definitely shows the value of drafting. I really think if I'd been more toward the front of the group when we hit the dirt, I wouldn't have had much trouble hanging, but such is racing. I've got a couple more chances coming up in the next month or so, and I'll definitely work on improving my fitness before then.
On a side note, the guy that won this race also won last weekend's road race, and apparently has been killing it for the last month or so. I know he's registered as a cat 3 for the Page Valley Road Race in August (State Championship road race), but he's still a 4 for the Giro di Coppi in mid-July, so that should be interesting...
Time (total/race): 1:26/0:52
Distance (total/race): 26.1/19.0
Normalized power (total/race): 224/249
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