Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Tulsa Tough wrap up

I'm not going to lie. As I'm writing this, I'm pretty sore. The masters race on Sunday didn't work out very well. I'm not sure why, but I never got really motivated to do Sundays race. I started in the very back of the 60 or so guys that were in attendance, but I didn't think it would be too big of a deal to move up. It wasn't too bad, but I was making most of my progress on cry baby hill. Probably not the best idea in the long run. The first 5 or so laps felt easy, and I probably pushed it a little too hard. It wasn't long before I found myself up towards the front, but starting to get a little winded. I guess if there's a different element to the Sunday Tulsa Tough course, for one it's a hard course already, but with all the folks cheering on crybaby hill, it's easy to over smoke it with the adrenalin and all.

Anyhow, a couple of moves went up the road and I decided to just stay patient and save it for the end. A few more went, and I just got caught out of position and somewhat out of gas. That's one thing about masters racing. The majority of the field may not be stronger than yourself, but a lot of them are salty veterans, and they know how to hit you when you're vulnerable. By the time the last few laps were winding down, I found myself in a group of 15-20 guys, plus a group of 8-12 I think up the road. Pretty de-motivating, but I figured I'd just go for the best money spot I could.

On the last lap I got into a move with 3 other guys. I figured I would just drag race them down the last straight, but in the last corner, some guy panicked on the inside of me and hit his brakes. He started fishtailing and pretty much pushed me wide in corner and I went up the curb and into one of the tent supports. So I pretty much got passed back by all the guys I had some time on and jacked up my ankle. It's not sprained, I just smacked it on my pedal or something. Pretty swollen and black and blue.

Still a fun weekend. This is typically the time of year where I take a little summer break. I think mentally, it would be good, but physically, I feel good.

Here's a few videos that Rob took if you've got a few hours to spare.

Day 1 Friday night - My favorite course



Day 2 Saturday - epic crash at 6 laps to go



Day 3 Sunday - I wasn't in this race (cat 1/2), but it's a nice view of what the riverside course is like with the infamous cry baby hill!

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