Salt Creek crit and Tall Chief road race part 1

Something kind of funny when you pre-register for a USA cycling event is the performance predictor. It's basically a program that predicts how you will finish in a race based on your rankings and the quality of the field. Of the 30 something guys that were registered, I think I was predicted to finish 18th on Saturday and 20th on Sunday.

Anyway, the weekend was definitely a tale of 2 totally different races. At least weather wise. Originally it looked like a chance of rain for the weekend. Then a high chance on Sat., but clear on Sunday. Then it reversed. In the end Saturday couldn't have been nicer. Kinda cool at the start, but getting up to the upper 70's by the finish.

The racing on Saturday went mostly how I thought it would. The Tulsa Tough guys had 8 or 9 guys, so I knew they would try to get a break a way with a bunch of their guys established early. Matt Ankney took off a couple of laps in and stayed away solo most of the race, but I think in general, their team was marked by just about everybody in the race, so in the end it came down to a field sprint.

Rob and I both had our cameras on. Rob's was rear facing and you can see the 1 1/2 hour race from his veiw point Here

My video is in 2 segments. The video quality is kind of trippy. I'm not sure if it was due to my cable smacking up against the camera, or the SD card may be messed up. Anyway, the first 45 minutes of the race from my camera is Here

This is the last 15 minutes from my camera:

It's still pretty hard for me to watch this. I couldn't have been in a more perfect position going into the last 300 meters. I'm not sure what my problem is. I think it may be a combination of dehydration and allergies, but at the 200 meter mark when I should have punched it and sling shot up into a top 3 or 4 spot, but instead I quit pedaling because I had some flem or gel residue or something caught in my throat. I tried to rinse it down the last couple of laps with water and clear my throat/spit, but none of it worked. Meanwhile, I was in an epic battle trying to get a good position to sprint. My legs felt great and I wasn't too winded, junk was clogging up my throat and I just couldn't breathe once we started going really hard.

I've talked to a few people about it. Possibly a sports induced athsma issue? I'm going to try a few things differently as far as eating before a race as well as drinking more water before and during.

So basically, I gave up a pretty for sure top 5 for a 14th place finish.

Sunday was a totally different animal.  I will post that story ASAP