April



It's been a long time since I've updated this, but I'll go ahead and start with what went down in April. Historically, it seems like April is usually the month I tend to peak around. I always want to make it more around May or June, but I guess it depends on how you start the year out training load wise. I definitely did some things differently this year and had some different goals and plans, all of which I'll get into in a different post, but it seemed like I peaked this year in March.



April training plan

 

I guess the first event in April was the Redbud. I thought I was going to have to peel off at some point in the ride to make it to my daughters soccer game, so I rode the ride super aggressive and burned as many matches as possible early on. I ended up riding the whole deal, but I was pretty smoked at the end. It came down to about 10 guys or so, and about all I was able to do was limp in after the last surge to the finish.

The Wednesday crit series has changed a bit and is now called the "Wednesday after work criterium ". They are now held the second Wed. of each month April through August. Anyway, the first race went ok. Not great, but ok I guess. The plan was to sit in for a while and let our cat 3's cover all the early attacks, but the race was only 30 minutes long, so it started super fast and if you weren't active right off the start, you were off the back.

Around 10 or 15 minutes in, Rob and I got into a break with 2 other riders. I was sure it was going to stick, and pretty much put all of my eggs in one basket effort wise. Long story short, the break got caught, and Brady attacked at the right moment and held it for the solo win. Rob got 2nd, I got 4th, and Brandon got 7th. I think there may have been 8 or 9 riders left on the lead lap. A pretty good sized group started, maybe 25 or 30 riders.

The Matrix criteriums in Dallas Tx. were on the 16th and 17th. I went down with Brandon and Lindsey. Pretty fun trip.

Nice weather at the Matrix crits in Dallas

Last year I did the second day only, which I thought was a mistake because it took 15-20 minutes of racing to get used to the speed and fast cornering. The race course is the same both days. Kind of short, mostly flat, 8 corners, and semi narrow roads. The competition in the Pro 1-2 category is pretty tough at this event. I would go as far as saying it's the hardest racing I've ever done. Last year I was only able to last 60 minutes of the 90 minute race before I got pulled from dropping too far off the back.

This year, I barely got registered because the 80 rider cutoff was full by Wednesday! I think I was number 75 or something. Anyhow, the first day went ok. A group of riders broke off early, so it seemed like the main field went a hair slower than normal. I lasted longer than last year making it all the way until the group I was in got pulled with 2 laps to go. I got 51st place Saturday.



Saturday results



Sunday on paper looked better, but only because most of the field got dropped pretty quick. Like as in 10 or 15 minutes. I got a good starting spot in the front row and managed to stay up in the top 20 for a few laps, but the race stayed together for quite a while making it really fast. I got pulled after only about 30 minutes, but I got 35th.



Sunday results

 I was hoping for better results, but the race experience was good getting deeper into the crit season.

The following Saturday was race #2 of the 3 OKC Velo TT series races. I guess the race conditions were fair. Aaron Smathers tweaked my bike fit, and the bike felt a lot better. It's hard to tell this year to last how things compare because the course is a little different, but I ran my fastest time on the current course of 17:02

The weird part about trying to compare is my speed is good and at an all time high (a little over 28mph), but my power output is 5-10% lower than my best runs in the last couple years.

OKC Velo TT #2

There was one last race at the end of the month, but I decided to skip it. There was a lot of racing in May with 4 criteriums and 2 time trials.