the last race of the year for me was the McGee Lungbuster in Ridgeland, MS on October 18th. It was the last race of the SCRCS and probably one of my favorite courses to ride and race on, so a good way to end the season. The race course had been extended by about 3/4 of a mile per lap with some added climbing and technical sections to make for more of a challenging course and i think the mission was accomplished!
as far as prep work going into the race...um...i think it would be safe to say there was none...i hadn't done a xc race effort since the last SERC race which was on August 2nd and hadn't been doing any intervals or tempos during my rides, so needless to say the top end speed wasn't there for this race. not that i was worried because this was strictly for fun and to support the scene in MS...but i still wanted to compete and have a solid performance in front of my home state folks...
the race started fast and i knew immediately that i was in trouble...but i just tried to stay smooth and ride fast. The group was small but fast and i tried to stay up front but to no avail as betz wanted to push the pace from the gun...by the time we got to the first climb he had a 30 sec gap on us and would build upon that until the finish...he whipped us all. Tre and i would ride all of lap 1 and most of lap 2 together...until he had a mechanical and fell back some...i pushed on and started to really get into a groove...looking back, i probably pushed it too hard towards the end of lap 2 and the beginning of the final lap...and by the time i got to the climbs...i was shot! i tried to take on some calories and keep the cadence high but ever pedal stroke became harder and harder...and what was once a good gap on 3rd place was fading fast...once i made it to the tt course, which is the last 3ish miles of the xc loop and takes about 13 minutes became a fight!!! Scott Borne was riding hard and gaining on me...fast...every turn he was closer and then at the last climb...he bridged up and was o my back tire...DAMN....it was going to end in a sprint...first time a race has ended like this for me...and it was brutal...we came out to the open and both floored it! i inched him out by about a half a wheel!
great race and super fun!now...things are slow and unstructured...i took a full 7 days off after the race and it was nice to do nothing but chill with the family, enjoy some football and REST!!
last week and this week are prep weeks for the upcoming off season program...running a bunch, lifting weights and working on the core, and doing some other cross training stuff has kept me busy....trying to do about 11hrs of total exercises each week. the official "off season" plan starts in a week and should be a good one.
something new this year will be the absence of LW Coaching...even though last year was by far the most successful season to date for me and i had the best results i've ever had in the cat 1 class AND that i obtained my #1 goal of winning the SERC overall i still cant justify the cost of a coach. SO instead, i have been educating myself through past experience, things i learned from LW last year, and readings form Joe Friel i will be back to self coaching for 2010. im excited about the challenge of it and hope the results will be even better than last years!! only time will tell...
more to come as the base training unfolds.....
