Not Getting Dropped
Last night at the Driveway an interesting thing happened. I completed a race in the pack, without getting dropped. This is really only the second time this has happened in all of the races that I have done. The first time it has happened in a non-collegiate race. Now, I didn’t win, and in fact I was in the back half of the group. But I wasn’t last, and I was still attached. It’s a big first for me, and it’s great to see the results of the work I have been putting in on the bike.
It was a good course layout for me. The little incline had the crazy wind blowing you up and over, so that was good, and the only other turn was a big 180 degree sweeper that is wide enough to pedal through easily. I was able to just focus on getting myself on a wheel and staying there. Get over the hill, power down it, get back into the group, and hang out until we were back to the little incline again.
What was interesting was that getting up the hill wasn’t a problem, the hardest part was having to get out of the saddle to catch up to everybody. In the back half of the group we were slowing down so much getting over the incline and around the turn that the people in front were already on the downhill. But I wasn’t as concerned about that last night.
I had told myself that I was going to worry less about where I was and just that I was. Get on a wheel and stay attached. Recover as much energy as possible and get up and over the incline in contact with everybody. That was my game plan, and it seemed to work out.
When I made it to the lap cards, I was excited. I thought that was cool, but I figured something was going to happen, and I was still going to get dropped. At 3 to go, I really started to believe that I was actually going to make it. When the bell rang for the last lap, I knew I was going to finish the race. We got up and over the incline, and I knew that I could do whatever was necessary to stay attached at that point as we were done with the incline and it was all flat to the finish. And, I couldn’t believe, I finished.
All in all, I was pretty thrilled. But this is just a first step. I need to keep up the diet and keep up the riding to move myself up in that pack. Also, I still need to work on my comfort in the pack in general and going around corners in the middle of the group, specifically. Next Thursday I will get a chance to practice both of those.
