Tour de Ephrata Day 2

The last of the 3-stage omnium in Ephrata was the crit. After some lunch at the closest Panera I could find—which was 10 miles down 222 in Lancaster, I proceeded to Wal Mart and Giant Food to lurk around. I didn’t find much, just some Powerade, and a thingamajig. No joke, that’s what it was called. Essentially it’s a candy bar with coco crisps, peanut butter, smothered and covered in a smooth delectable chocolate. Can you tell I enjoyed it?

I arrived to the crit about 2 hours before the start to walk around and figure out how the TT went from earlier that morning. Of the 60+ guys, I ended up with a solid 10^th. My time was 22:45, just outside the money which was Top 8. The winner was, *surprise* Bobby Lea with a 21:13. Not too bad considering I’m just getting into racing again…and racing a TT on a road bike decked out with “Jan Ulrich Alpe d’huez style” aerobars.

Im not sure what it is, but the last hour before a race always seems to fly by. Also, I don’t know if I am just lucky (sarcasm) but I always seem to unintentionally end up on the very back row at the start line. Being in that position is not conducive to racing a crit. The first 20 minutes were super fast and nearly impossible to move up on the 4 turn, .7 mile course. I sat in, went fast and turned left a good 60 corners before the field became tired and I could attack. In 1 lap, I went from nearly last, to top 10, to off the front. This course for some reason was impossible to get away. I’m guessing because the race was only 25 miles, guys were going pushing extra meat the whole time, and there was no rest for the weary. Occasionally I found myself daydreaming, and I would slide to the back of the field until I realized what was going on, and then I would move up again. Oops. My friend from college, Owen Hassig, who was also there racing, mentioned something I never really thought of. I think my concentration, or lack of in a race, is due to the fact that it just gets boring. Yes, cardiovascularly I find myself in a heap of pain, but when it comes down to it… doing 35 laps around 4 streets in an hour is not entertaining.

At the end of the race, I went off the front a good 4 to 5 times, and never made it. In my opinion this race was more for tuning up and getting into racing shape for some Speed Week races. At least I ended the day with an epic feast of Tommy Guns BBQ with my host for the weekend and best friend, TJ Storm. Everything at that place was amazing—from the deep fried macaroni, to the freshly cut fries, to the hawg. Definitely looking forward to that place next time I’m up there!