Comeback Year in Review (Next Installment)

At this point I had been on the bike for a month (doing 2 group rides during the week and racing on weekends, for a total of 6-8 hrs/week) and I was just beginning to see signs of training starting to kick in but I knew it would be another solid month of training before the old legs started to come back a little. 

Leonardtown, 35+ Open: 13th
Starting to feel a little spunky! What's this a first lap flier, what am I thinking, I know this is a crit of attrition. Alright settle down Sjoberg. Covered moves to the best of my abilities. I didn't animate but my teammates certainly did. I had all I could do to hold onto some of the accelerations that were being laid down. Well with only a handful of laps to go Scott Giles was coming back from a break that he didn't burn all his matches in and he latched onto a solo flier attack from Rist. The two worked flawlessly together and crossed the line one-two!! Yeah baby!

Bike Jam - 2 to go flyer

Bike Jam, 35+ Open: 11th
This was going to be a field sprint from the start so I just sat in and conserved matches. With 2 to go, I found our good ole sprinter, Jim Weinstein and he latched onto my wheel for some good ole lead out fun. Gosh, I hope I remember how to do this. Well with one lap to go we came through the finish and I started to move up and that is when I heard the sound of psst, psst, psst along with some expletives. I was hoping it wasn't Jim but then I got confirmation. Well I just got promoted to sprinter, I gave it my all. Not great but the legs were definitely starting to come around.

Bike Jam, Cat 3: 8th
Time to double up. Only one match burned in the previous race so what the heck, I need the training. Same mindset, just sit in and maybe try something with 2 to go. Well I did just that, I lit my match with 2 to go up the finish stretch, I got a little daylight but I was quickly brought back with 1 to go. Ohh crap, what now, I'm done. Ohh look there is my bottle rocket teammate, Doc Bickling! New found energy for me, hey Todd, why don't you grab my wheel and I will see if I can deliver you to the finish line. That mostly worked, I pegged it out of the round about from 6-7 spots back and Todd was able to secure the final podium spot. Another week, another podium for the team, I could get used to this.

Ride Sally Ride, Cat 3: 10th
Man was this like drafting a school bus, can you say "sittin on the sofa". Well Sunny hooks me up with 1.5 laps to go but what am I thinking trying to do a solo flier on this course, lesson learned. Still managed to sneak into the top 10.

Ride Sally Ride, 35+ open: 7th
Doubled up for some training. More sofa time and tried to hold my own in the sprint. Not bad!

Ride Sally Ride, 1/2/3: DNF
Triple up time! Racin' is the best training. This race was all about burying myself. I was able to hang onto moves by Nima and Hutch and even pull through but with 10 to go my matches were all burned up and I called it a day. This will pay off soon.

Tour of Mt. Nebo, Cat 3/4: 8th
First race on the new Cannondale Super 6!! I was headed back from a wedding in PA and this race just happened to be on the way home. Sweet, although it had a ton of climbing and I still had some winter weight to shed and no teammates. I stuck it out, spun like a mad man throughout the race and managed to grab the last money spot with a final kick around a rider with 25 meters to go. Imagine a full on sprint in your 39x21!!

... to be continued.