Alameda Criterium

On short notice I decide to race the sanctioned Alameda criterium: 45 minutes with about 50 Masters 4,5 riders on six corner, .7 mile course. In terms of prep, I couldn't have been less prepared with the slowbo miles I've been riding (especially the previous day), but my instincts and core fitness carried me through. I finished 10th or so. It was like traveling back 30 years in my life.

My old Richard Sachs road bike is totally NOT the bike for these kinds of courses. I was dragging my pedals through the corners, and was less certain of my lines than I should have been for someone as experienced as myself. But by the end of the race, when my heart settled down, it was all becoming manageable. I confess that I'd like to do more and do better. So maybe I'll slip a few more races in between now and the Cape Epic -- hopefully avoiding crashes. To avoid crashes though, I need to acutally place in the top 5 in races to upgrade to a category 3. Yikes, that's a far further commitment in life and I dunno wether I really want to go there....

But it was fun being frisky -- even if I had no snap in my legs due to the type of long distance training I've been up to.