Final ToA Race Report

I road up to the Pickle Research Campus on Monday morning to warm up. My stomach was feeling kind of gross, but I figured it would go away once we started racing, and it did. The race started fast. People in front were getting dropped, so I had to go around them and then bridge the gap to the actual group.

I did this several times but when I had to do it into the tail wind I lost contact. I fought for the next lap to possibly regain contact, and I was close, but again when I hit the tailwind section on the slight uphill it was over. A few laps later a group of four of us had come together. 

We stayed together, taking turns at the front. I knew we weren’t going to be able to catch back on, but I was hoping that maybe with four of us we wouldn’t get caught. Every time we went through the finish line I looked at the head official expecting her to blow the whistle and tell us our race was over. Finally, we went through and I heard the bell ring announcing a prime. I figured this was it, we were about to be swallowed up. But I looked behind me, and I didn’t see the main group. Then I heard the announcer say the prime was for us. Interesting. So I figured I might as well get something out of the weekend and win this prime.

We came around the next lap, I was in second wheel, and with like 100 meters to go I took off sprinting. I crossed the finish line, winning the prime, but I looked back and nobody had done anything. I don’t think two of the guys in the group knew what was going on, and the fourth guy told me later he thought the prime was for the main group. Oh well, I won a case of recovery beverage… it’s the first time I’ve ever won anything in a bike race. ;)

The next time we came through we did get pulled, and thus ended my Tour of Austin experience. While I didn’t perform as well as I was hoping, I did have a great time. It was a great series of races. By the end of the last day I felt a lot more comfortable turning at speed, so honestly if that is the only thing I got from the weekend I call it a success. 

Now it’s time to start thinking about next year. I’ve made it through an entire season racing and training. I think have some base foundation upon which I can build real race fitness and really compete. We still have several weeks of the Driveway left to get some racing in, but for the most part my eyes are looking forward to going into next season full steam.