My Legs are Toast!

Seriously!! I can barely walk today. It all started with the Draper ICUP race this past weekend. It was supposed to be held on Memorial day, but because of the torrential rain we received that day it was rescheduled for Wednesday night. I'd been looking forward to this race for a while. I absolutely love the trail network in Corner Canyon. It's got to be one of the best urban trail networks in the US, hands down! Joe knows these trails better than anyone and he was kind of enough to show me the race course a few times before race day. Originally, Single Speed class was slated to do two laps (roughly 20 miles), but because of the late 6:30pm start time, they shortened the race to one and a half laps (17 miles). Single speed class was stacked! There were ex pros, current pros, and other crazy fast guys that seemed to come out of the wood work for the race. Where do these guys come from and how are they so fast? As the race started, my legs felt pretty good. I managed to hang on to the lead pack until the first major climb. At that point, the leaders took off and I attempted to conserve energy with hopes that I might be able to later catch those who started too hot and blew up. My plan worked. As I started the second lap, I managed to catch 3 riders. One guy ended up passing me again on one of the downhill sections ( I really need to work on my downhill skills!). He ended up beating me by 15 seconds or so. I ended up 7th in a really competitive class with a time of 1:33. I was pretty stoked about my finish. However, the race required just about all my legs had and for the rest of the week I felt a little sluggish on the bike. This worried me because I had signed up for the Utah State TT championships on Saturday. I managed to talk myself into buying a TT Bike a few months back. Since I had to sell a car, a bike, and a bike frame to pay for the stupid thing, I have to race as many TTs as I can! As I started the 40k TT this morning I knew I was in for it. My legs were still heavy and I had a hard time getting my heart rate up. I've done a few 10k TTs recently, and I've been happy with my results. However, the 40k TT was a whole different animal. After about 15k, my seat seemed to be littered with thumb tacks poking directly into my...well, you get the idea. I couldn't get comfortable at all and I found myself shifting around constantly. Somehow, I managed to keep focused and I finished the race in 1:02. My goal was 1:00 or under, but considering how toast my legs were, I'm happy. I got like 6th or 7th in the Cat 5 class. If my legs would have been fresh, I'm confident that I could have won the race, since the winning time was just a little over a minute faster than my time. My team mates, Elliott Smith and Curt Doman got 3rd and 1st respectively in the Cat 3 race. These guys are animals. They averaged 28 mph for the whole race! Somebody test them, please! In all, I had a great time in both races. I actually really like racing. Most of all, I really enjoy how cycling brings so many people close together! I've met a lot cool people through this hobby!