Sussex Crit Recap

Following the Chiropractic Crit that saw my rear derailleur fall apart, I spent much of the night pounding ibuprofen to try to ease my back pain. I do not remember hitting the curb with my back, but I must have. I could barely walk, sit, move, do anything for the rest of evening. Late in the evening, Jeff called to see if I was racing Sussex. I said that it would depend on whether or not my back allows me to move and if the storms hold. He considered me basically out, since my back was not sounding good.

When I woke up prior to Sussex, my back was still a little sore, but I could move around and almost touch my toes. (This was a big deal, since I had to hold my back as straight as possible to minimize the pain and could not even get close to touching my knees, let alone toes). What was even more exciting was that the storms looked like they would not interfere with the Cat 4/5 race slot. I decided to go race, but instead of riding to each race, which I prefer, I decided to drive out there. I packed up what I needed and headed to the course.

After registering and pinning on my number, I went for a brief warm-up on the roads. I did not feel like my legs were quite where I wanted them, but it was as good as I could do in the time. Met up with Tom (from Hampshire Cycling) and rode to the start line. The start surprised us since the official just nonchalantly said "go", so off we went.

The race itself was relatively uneventful. The wind was stiff enough and the hill was big enough than no one was able to get away. I tried to take some of Brent's advice and pedaled up the hill in my little ring on every lap outside of the final two. I found that I was able to accelerate through the field, or in the least maintain position, to save my legs for later. With two laps to go, I felt I was in great position. Unfortunately, I lost a bit of my positioning in the final lap and hit the final turn in about 12th position. The guys in front of me got gapped by the leaders going up the hill, so I had to sprint around them, bridge the gap, and continue sprinting towards the finish. Jeff came around at the end to try to give me a lift. I kicked it in another gear and climbed up a few more spots, finishing 7th out of the 35 guys racing. Much better than getting crashed out of the race. I was just a little disappointed that I did not fight for better position going into the final turn, since I had so much gas left in the tank after the race. Oh well. It was a great learning experience and great to ride with Jeff. Normally, I do not have the pleasure of racing with him, but it definitely helped having him in the field to tell me little things throughout the race instead of yelling from the sidelines. He took 9th in the Cat 4/5 and then raced Masters 4/5.

After the race, I drove over to McDonald's to try out one of the tasty chocolate dipped ice cream cones. It looked so good on the billboards. It definitely did not disappoint:


Here is my data from the race and cool down for those interested. Looks like it was just a touch slower than yesterday at 23.8 mph, despite the hill.