Kenosha Crit. #1-3-14-10

Well, the first race of the year has come and gone. I raced cat. 3 class and I had one other team mate with me. The weather was very windy, but the sun did come out in time for the race (at least my race).

It was a small field of about twenty racers. The race started out a bit fast, and jumped my heart rate up where it hasn't been in a long time. When I finally was comfortable with a steady high heart rate I felt pretty good. I wouldn't say that I felt really strong, but felt good.

There was a break early in the race, but that didn't last long. Brian and I were in the front of the group. Brian was leading (don't remember what lap) in the head wind and when we reached the cross wind before the tail wind I went in front of him and we ramped it up and was able to get off of the front. I think it started with just us two, but somebody might have been hiding out behind us. I think there was also another guy that bridged up to us and at one point we had four in the break. I would like to give big props to Brian for pulling into the head wind lap after lap. One of the guys in the break pulled with a tail wind and pulled so hard that it just killed me and Brian. We probably stayed away for about ten minutes and were eventually caught.

After we were caught Brian and I were still leading the group. This felt just like a M4/5 race with Extreme getting some press! What the heck! There was a one man break that Brian and I were not chasing down. I was hoping some other men would come to the front and do some work. With three laps to go there was a nasty crash, and I hope that everyone is okay. After the crash I ramped it up just a little bit and started getting a cramp in my left hamstring. I new my race was not going to finish very strong, but with two laps to go I found myself in front AGAIN, but I wasn't doing any work. I slowed the pace down to about thirteen to fifteen miles per hour hoping that someone else would come to the front, but no such luck. On the last lap like always it ramped way up and I could feel my hamstring on the edge of locking up, so I couldn't give it my all.

The one man break was able to stay away and win the race and on the last lap I stayed tucked in behind Brian's calves. I am glad I use these races for training and is a good kick start for the season. Brian placed 8th and I was 9th, I need to figure out why I am cramping! Good job to all the other team mates that raced in the juniors and 4/5 races. They did a great job. Team Extreme is going to be a force to reckon with again this year, hopefully in three classes (cat.4/5, M4/5, cat.3, M3/4).