For The Birds!

I’m not sure why I thought last year that I should get serious about training and try to get faster and stronger. This whole racing longer and faster is for the birds!

Yesterday was my second race of the season. Illiniwek has historically been one of my favorite courses to race. There are two moderate climbs where I normally excel, and it’s just a fun, flowy track. For the last 9 days I’ve been off my training schedule and almost completely off the bike due to Bronchitis. In light of that, I still thought it would be a “good idea” to go race.

After my warm-up I knew I didn’t have the legs I needed, but figured I’d trudge through. I found myself in 10th position going into the woods. The pace was high and I paid the price for that pretty quickly. By the end of lap 1 I had been passed by 2 riders. Lap 2 was miserable, but as I began lap 3 I felt things falling into place. Corners felt easier, the climbs didn’t hurt, and I was feeling good mentally and physically. Unfortunately, that was short lived. I cooked that third lap then the check engine lights came on. The last two laps were akin to a death march. I cramped, I coughed, I got passed by a guy I had dropped a long time ago.

That finish line was a sweet sight for sure. I’m hoping that now that the bronchitis is nearly gone I can get back to training consistently and improving my endurance. I realize it’s early in the season, but to be honest this is harder than I thought it would be.