Torrance
Posted on April 20, 2008
Torrance = sketch fest
I went back to basics today. No heart rate monitor, no fufu drinks, warm-up normally, ditched the powertap (another story) and went racing.
I like this course very much and the last time I had a blast.
This time it was OK. A lot of wheelsuckers in this race, I mean, the guys that did well were in the back, or at least not in the front. Not to be bitter or anything cause this is what they do, but the top 4-6 guys there did nothing until the last 5 laps. I am OK with that cause nobody got killed. I know there were some crashes here and there, but no one got killed.
A lot of really big guys. The course looked like a velodrome ad nothing was going to stay away. We tried over and over and thanks to a couple of guys that really put the wood down, there were gaps at times.
The “plan” was to go with 2 to go. 2 to go, I go to the front and try to set up a lead-out…. not very good. I gap the guy behind me and once again I am stuck in no mans land. OK, 1.5 laps to go, I HAVE TO GO. I felt that maybe I would have held it, but had to ht the brakes in a corner so I would not cause a crash.
big DNF.
I am getting blood work done this week. My period is going on for too long. Need to find out what is going on.
Oh, and the kicker, I stepped on a big pile of dog shit on my way back to the car…. ain’t life a bitch…
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8 Responses to “Torrance”
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You’re the fourth person, including me, within the last 10 days to banish the HRM and watt meter (mines a “what?” meter) from their bike.
Is this a trend? Or is it the SoCal season that starts with the hardest race and peters out into a beautiful summer of one race a weekend?
We are so backwards here. Why are we going ape shit over industrial park crits in the rain in Jan/Feb and then having one race weekends already in April and May? We should be riding into shape in Dec/Jan/Feb, not killing ourselves to be in shape for Boulevard and then being bored in August (ten weekend days, three races in SoCal and one in Vegas).
Yeah, it’s time to ditch the HRM, the PowerCrap, the training diary, the diet and the self-induced pressure. I’m throwing on a tux next weekend, drinking myself into a stupor and turning up the AC so when I wake up hungover, I can get over it by watching college football off the DVR like it’s January 1 all over again….except this time I won’t be RIDING MY DAMNED BIKE!!!
Jan,
I got jacked up as well. This crit sucks. The pavement was so rough I’m going to need skin graphs on my ass. It’s too short, and with no hill like anthill it’s just a bs hackfest where everyone can hang on. Lame.
I have never seen so many peckerheads sprinting for some f..king CVS body spray in my life.
This was by far the worst Cat 3 field we’ve had all year as far as bike handling and willingness to ride fast (read: safe).
If you stuck around to watch the pro12, you know what I mean, the pack was strung out and turned the .5 miles into a paved velodrome.
What is it about the races in LA and Long Beach area that bring out lots of juniors and guys you never see elsewhere (most are in less than appropriate form, too)?
Are these guys that ride the track for fun and do the occasional crit?
It is strange when you recognize half the field and don’t even recognize the team names of the other half.
Terrifying…that’s all that I can say. “Gangsta Crit”. Everytime I tried to form a break I was chased down by a Samoan in a skin-suit. When I came back to the pack I had to fight the urge to plow through cones with the rest of the knuckleheads.
For those of you that are old enough to be able to race 35+, what a breath of fresh air. Single file, fast, organized breaks and real tactics. I was suffering and really enjoying myself until…..a Samoan in a skin-suit ran into me in a 2 man break (yeah…that’s just me and him). Slammed into me diving into a corner and cracked my new SL2 into 2 pieces.
I could not even respond to your e-mail Miitch…. I felt really bad that the bike is gone.
Mitch! holy! I did not hear about that, bum deal for certain. I hope they do a crash replacement on it.
Frame replacement would be great!
Hopefully the Samoan can get a “Brain Replacement”!
That’s f..ked….Hope the replacement works out…