Woke up on Sunday with some tired legs, but still feel as though I recovered decently. On tap was a 75min crit in downtown Galena. One thing that is really odd about being a Cat 1/2 is that you wait all day to race. Most races start before 6pm, but the last two crits I have done start then, which means you have a lot of downtime and time to think.
Bethany and I enjoyed sleeping in, having a sub-par hotel conti breakfast, and watching the Dauphine/Swiss races. We had to check out at 11am, which meant for a long day in downtown Galena. We arrived, and Bethany wanted to go dress shopping, so like a good boyfriend I tagged along. She never ended up finding anything, but did buy a little pursue. We settled down in a coffee shop for a coffee and then watched some racing. We had a decent lunch at one of the "upscale" bars of Galena, where they served Pita sandwiches. The cool thing about Galena, is I don't think there is a typical "bar", all the bars have employees wearing very high class outfits, and just in general the place is very clean. The food was very good this weekend, but does pull a steep price tag with it. Galena was a very cool place, and I would really like to go back and maybe even hold a personal training camp there while Bethany shops.
Anyway, moving on to the race. Got ready to go with the other 33 athletes, and right from the gun the GP Bianchi boys lit it up. I must have been sleeping along with Chad/JJ because pretty soon, the three of us were off the back? WTF!!!!!!! What could have been the most embarrassing moment for American Equity was averted as the pace slowed and we were back in the pack. Right away Paul told me to start attacking/counterattacking with him to try and break up the pack. I got off the front for 2 laps at one point and ended up winning a preme. Unfortunately, this wasn't one of the $200, $350 premes offered as I thought. I ended up with a bottle of carbonated wine.....Are you KIDDING! I mean, I love a good bottle of wine, but the money would be better in my eyes (being a poor college, bike racer). But hey, a preme is a preme, and it was the first one I have won as a Cat 1/2. We kept attacking, but never really got away, and settled into the pack for the finish. The finale came, and I was way to far back, and out of the 5 spots of money. Chad and Paul ended up in the omnium results, which totally didn't make my weekend bad. Always good to see teammates getting some good results, and to work for them as they have done for me.
Huge props to the XXX Racing team for the weekend. They did everything right for a first year event, plenty of friendly volunteers, police, prizes, and just friendly. Will really be looking to come back next year.
Overall, I felt a bit better than the road race, but still have some restructuring to do in order to find my form. State Center races are this weekend, and maybe I'll go a bit better....
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