Going Back

So this weekend was the Treasure Valley Stage Race…

I took the big plunge and raced… Master’s B. I --- INSERT EXCUSE HERE --- so I thought I would race there for the weekend. I had a ton of excuses like ‘I don’t want to race 75 miles in Cat 3’, ‘I have a bumb hip’, ‘It would give me more family time’, ‘No team mates in Cat 3’, and ‘Those damn lost river guys are doing it’ – amongst others.

There is nothing wrong with racing master’s B – it is a happy place – but I have come to the realization that like many other things in life, you shouldn’t go back. Not that you can’t go back, you just shouldn’t.

Well I went back. The race was only 50 miles – the ‘only’ is a change in perspective that I have gained this year. Last year it was ‘Oh my god! It’s 50 freak’n miles!’. We started out on 1-2 mile climb pretty easy, then Dave Beck (who also shouldn’t have gone back) accelerated. Since Dave is an old man, and not in my category I let him go. I only followed after a few people in my category followed.

At the top of the hill, there were 8 of us left (including 5 people who should not have gone back). We road the rest of the first lap like most races – the Dobiacco guys worked, Chris Berry worked, I worked, and the lost river guys sat on back and talked about attacking.

The second time up the hill Chris Berry got gapped so I accelerated and pulled for a while towards the top of the hill. There were 5 of us left. No one worked with Dave so he took off solo. Eventually the other 4 of us started working together to chase Dave (and to gap Chris B). Three of us pulled more than the other. The other sprinted around us for the win at the end. Give you 1 guess which team.

Anyway, thought I would make it up in the TT. I didn’t – lost 5 more seconds. I knew I couldn’t make it up in the crit, but I tried anyway – I got a time prime, unfortunately Mike McDonald got 3.

So I got beat fair and square. Second place. First loser. Behind 1 (shouldn’t have gone back) and ahead of 1 (shouldn’t have gone back).

After the races we all sat back and discussed our excuses for racing masters b instead of 3 or masters a. I am guessing that if you feel like you have to justify racing in the category you race in – you may be racing the wrong category.

Back to pack fodder for me… at least until the next time I go back.