Got in 15 minutes of warm up on the track with my race gear. I felt reasonably well, the gear (92") seemed a little tall but it's been a month and half since I've been on the velodrome so this is normal.
They called us up and we made our way up to the top of the wall. It was a good strong field. My buddy Todd was in there. A couple stars and stripe jersey (as in national master track champion jerseys) as well as a couple of stout looking racers I hadn't seen before. I remember thinking "this might not be the smartest thing I could be doing right now." Quickly I shut those thoughts down and focused on the task at hand, we got 24 laps and I came to compete.
It's a strange thing, that mindset you go in to right before you race. You push away all the fears and uncertainties and you get a degree of swag in your attitude as you shift in to knowing you can and will win this race. Despite having no idea what my body would do or if I could put out the watts I would need or hold the intensities I was going to need, I was in that "this is my f'n race" mindset. Man, I miss this mindset, it's been a while, since Leadville last year when I truly felt that way.
We had a good field of strong riders but everyone including me had John Murazak marked. He's just a bad dude and a favorite to win whatever he shows up to. Since everyone had him marked and getting his wheel was not going to be easy I decided to stay out front and either control the race or be in a place that I could respond without getting blocked in.
As expected John was the primary attacker. He launched several attacks. The first 3 were covered well and I chased him down with the group in tow twice. His last attack came so viciously by the time he got around me at the front he was doing 30+ and accelerating hard while I was doing 24 or so he and another guy managed to breakaway before I could cover or respond. I gave chase for a lap and when I looked back for help, I was solo. I pushed harder to get on to the 2 person break. Half a lap and I got to within 15 meters and backed off the power. I knew I could bridge but if I did I'd be done and unable to respond to anything else that came.
Here's a video of how wicked Murazak's attacks were. This video is from my friend Luke who was also in the field.
As I backed down the power, I looked back and had a big gap on the next chasing group. I decided not to wait from them and I'd just fight it out in no-mans land until they caught me. I remember thinking "it's a long shot but maybe I can hold them off".
A couple laps later I'm still maintaining my gap and John spits his breakaway partner off his wheel. I quickly catch him, he's done and go by. I'll be getting no relief from him. My gap on the chasers is still holding. Maybe, there's a chance.
The next couple of laps were misery as the heat and the intensity were starting to get to me. I was way in the red and maybe my mind was a little stronger than my body. With about 6 laps to go I had my skinsuit unzipped and I slung off my visor to get as much airflow as I could. Forget aero I need air.
The laps click down and I get to 3 laps. I'm hurting by now, way in the red. "1 kilo, you got this Don" I assure myself. My gap on the chasing group is still good and they are now down to two riders. This is really looking like I can hold out for second.
The final lap and I know the chasers are coming I see them go. I try to push the watts a little more. I'm so far in the red I don't feel much surge coming from the orders I issue my body. I tell myself that's all we got just keep pushing. I get to turn 4 and see the home stretch, so close. I turn to look and 3rd has broken away from 4th but has opted to sit up because he knows he can't catch me! That's the most awesome thing I've seen all day and I know I can finally back it down as 2nd is now mine.
When I got to the pits my core temp was high. It took me a long time to cool off and settle down. I felt like shit most of the rest of the day. Michelle took me home shortly after the race and after a shower I laid around a bit.
One of the interesting things from this race, despite the heat, despite the intensity, my breathing was controlled the whole time. This has got to be the ketosis. I was hurting and yet I wasn't on the very edge of hyperventilating like I normally am.
Looking at my performance file, I'm not impressed with my performance. Obviously I did well enough to pull off a second but the performance file says I have got some fitness to work on. First my cadence was low, which is telling because I didn't have enough power to keep it up in the 110-115's where it should have been. I normalized at 398 for this 13 minute period, that should have been 420 or higher. That's the critic in me though, a good placing isn't enough I've got to analyze the hell out of it and figure out how to improve.
In all truthfulness, I'm incredibly happy with the race and the results. These days I throw around the word training a lot but I'm not doing a lot of training, its more like maintaining. Less than 2 weeks ago I started the switch from glucose to ketones. I haven't spent a lot of time on the bike (definitely not with any intensity) this last month since we went to the Bahamas and then starting this diet. All things considered, it's a pretty damn good feeling to know I got on the podium.
One big take away from this race is that if I make ketosis a way of life, I can still race at the velodrome. This gives me a whole new level of excitement for this journey I'm on.
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