Merco Madness Day 1

Day 1 - 50 mile Road Race

Ok, so this was a race!

It was kind of crazy to start - there was a lot of shuffling on the front from the get go. Lots of people coming around, up and circling through. I had to really pay attention. No looking at the cool cows, or hawks or pretty streams... darn. This was my first big 123 road race, so i didn't really know what to expect. I also hadn't pre road the course so when we got to the climb - it was a little bit of a mystery - which made pacing myself hard...

The pack slowly started to accelerate up the bumpy climb on the first lap. There were patches of rock and gravel in some sections, which was kind of sketchy. It got really hard for me pretty quick and I felt myself drifting back, breathing hard and thinking NOOOOOOO don't fall off! With about 300 meters i did. But, there was a healthy group that did too. So on the wicked fast decent (rolling decent not very steep) we made up the ground and re joined the peleton. One smell comes to mind from that lap - the smell of rubber burning on carbon heading into a 90 degree turn. It was kind of cool, i have to admit.

We all stayed together up and through the rolling road past the start. And then we hit the hill again. I tried to stay with them, but half way through I had to ease up or I would have buried myself something fierce.

Good news - more fell off this time, so I had company. It was a fun crew mixed with team Red, PB&CO, Tibco, Metro Mint, Touchstone, Webcore, Vanderkitten, and a few others... We rallied together, and began pace-lining... we saw the main group and stayed steady...I think we all were about 10 min off the leader, which i felt wasn't that bad given the strength of the field.

It was really hard, but awesome to work with a group like that. I feel like i learned a lot about pulling, resting, and finding the flow in a larger group.

We all stayed together for pretty much the whole race - we were trying to survive, to make the cut off time. At the end, we all sprinted it out and I came in midish pack.

I was pooped after the race - came back and slept for a few hours, ate a burrito, jumped in a bath full of ice, and called it a night!

All in all it was a lot of fun, and a great experience. I learned a lot!

Thanks for reading. =)