Drop the Doc

Saturday 4/7/12 I picked Ryan up and we headed to Attitude Sports in Pewaukee where we met up with Brian from the team and many others from other teams. We needed to be ready to ride at 7am. It was miserebly cold and was going to warm up a little bit very quickly. This made dress apperal a bit tough. I wanted to make sure I wore clothes that I could take off easily enough if I was getting to warm. I did really good, but was miserable for the first 20 minutes or so. My body was good, but my fingures were frozen. They did get better as soon as we started putting in a little more effort into the pedals. We had a very nice controlled pace to Bicycle Doctor.
We waited at Bicycle Doctor for about 5 minutes before everyone was ready to go. We started off pretty slow like it normally does until you go up and over a climb about 3 miles in or so. On the climb it is very crucial that you push pretty hard to stay towards the front without blowing up because the pace keeps going after the climb. This can be a bit tricky because there are lots of riders that know this and are on the front but don't have the fitness to keep up on the climb. So, you have to weave through the riders with out losing the front goup. I made the front group and before you know it I was on the front helping with the pace. I had my fair share of pulls without pushing to hard to stay within myself. I did really good staying at the front trying to get into any breaks that may happen. One break did eventually get off the front and I was not in it. They timed it perfect and I didn't have it in me to bridge/catch it by myself. They were not really getting away and then at one point they really pushed and the group I was in was not working together well. We never caught them, but there was only like 5 miles left or so when they broke off the front. KS Energy was the biggest represented team in our group and they didn't work well with each other. Towards the end Brian went to the front and started setting a tempo into the final straight. I was sitting about 10th and waited patiently hoping for someone to go and I would follow. Nobody was going so, I took the inniative and started semi sprinting knowing that I was going to be towing some people and try to have a little something for a final kick. I managed a 2nd in our chase group sprint and I was pleased with that. There was only 2 other people that could stay in tow, so I put in enough hurt at the right time to drop most of the group. The ride back was nice and Ryan pulled a good portion back to the car. 70 miles total with many good hard efforts. A good day of riding.
Sunday (Easter), I wanted to get a ride in, but was limited in time. I went out by myself and broke another spoke, but this time was the front wheel. Not a big deal, opened up my brake and rode home. This did happen close to home so the timing was about the best that could be. I rode for 17 miles and was a good hard tempo, so job done early and on with the family obligations.
Upcoming this week Monday, off day, Tuesday, my first criterium practice, Wednesday easy day, Thursday, Hillside hill repeats, Friday, off day, Saturday, short leg opener, Sunday, GDVC #1.