Road Racing

Racing...it is something that I have come to believe runs in my blood. I love to see how far I can push my body and for how long. Track has always been that rush for me, as of late though I have found my new love (after Janelle of course, though she may say otherwise). The second track season was over this year I instantly jumped on my road bike and began training for some road races. I found a few in our area and set some goals. The first race was a weekly criterium race at UVU. It is a set course that we ride for 40 min on and once the 40 min are up they give you 3 laps to make any final moves before you sprint to the finish line hoping to grab first. My first race was a killer I went out way to fast and wasted tons of energy trying to speed up and slow down and get in front of people. In the end lets just say I didn't have much to really contend for the top 3.
Back to the drawing board it was then. I checked out a book called the Ultimate Ride by Chris Carmichael. He has a lot of great training and racing tips that I have since fallowed. I got a lot stronger on the bike and could actually go longer than 30 miles without dying. For those of you that laugh at my 30 miles I remind you that I normally run 400 meters...big difference.
So once again I entered the weekly criterium race and this time I placed 4th overall but 1st in my category.
The real challenge was thrown down though by Dallin Bird to ride in the Tour de Park City...a 100 mile race with a huge vertical climb at one point of about 3,500 feet. This was one race I wanted to do but didn't think I could handle 100 miles but Dallin got me to do it and I am glad I did. I finished in a time of 5 hours 50 minutes.
My next race will be the Sanpete classic on August 29 so stay tuned...