After the debacle that was Vets B the other week (really crap handling skills being displayed, at one point the guy 30cm ahead of me was sideways with a locked rear wheel
)... I decided to move to a smaller group - A grade. I knew it could be interesting when I was sitting on the start line, and half the guys were lined up ready in the big chain ring. But, most of these guys had done Fitz's on the weekend as well, and were complaining about tired legs. All I did was 2000m of climbing on Sat and another 440m on Mon, so I was comparatively "fresh".
It started off fairly sedately, but the speed through the tight corners was a lot higher than I'm used to, and my lines were crap. These guys also push the boundaries on pedal strike as well, so I got gapped on the second lap and had to work my arse off getting back on. The surges, when they came, weren't hard to hang on to... I'm really seeing the benefits of weight loss here. I had a lap on the front but went too slow & wide into a corner and had two guys dive down the inside of me. A lap later, a guy I know well started hammering off for an attack, so I jumped on his wheel and we stayed away for two laps. Then, as they all passed, the rider who eventually won was looking at the pack to his left.... drifted over right to the edge of the track... and as that's where I was at the time, I ended up going off the track into the dirt to avoid his wheel. Luckily, there were no attacks at that point, so I was able to get back onto the track and catch them after a third of the lap, passing the 2-laps-to-go board as I rejoined. The speed picked up a lot on the last lap, but the guys around me sat up as the sprint started, so I did as well... rolling over the line third last.
21.9km in 32:02, 319W avg, 353W NP, 41.0kph, 159 bpm average. 31% of the ride time >= 430W. Seasonal PB power output for everything between six and eleven minutes.
And, according to one of the guys I know... last week the average was 44.2kph. I'll see how I handle that when the time comes. It didn't feel too hard this week, so hopefully I'll be able to hang on when they get their legs back.
I ride, therefore I am. But don't ride into harm's way.
...real cyclists don't have squeaky chains...