Rocky Mountain Robeaux

I don't know where I ended up and I am extremely disappointed to leave the race without knowing.  I would of liked to know that I won but rookie mistakes today left me out of the big win. The weather was classic.  As we rolled out 60+ strong in our group it started to rain and the wind was cold.  As we finished the sun was out and the temps were hanging out at 50.  So the race day was a classic and the course was awesome. Even with all the marbles lined up I made two mistakes that cost me the opportunity to win.

The first mistake was foolish and almost caused an accident.  I felt mad that I looked like such a fool.  Here is what happened.  It was cold and I could barley feel my hands.  At the 30 minute mark I went for a drink. I got one and on the way back into its holder the bottle fell out of my hands and skipped off the side of the road.  Nor harm done and I heard a few, "Aw that sucks!" in the peloton.  Then I turned right around ten minutes later and fumbled the second one.  This time the bottle skipped back into the peloton and almost caused a wreck. I was leading the push up front and as soon as I realized that I screwed myself out of the necessary hydration to contend I went off on an attack.  After getting the anger out the peloton caught up and swallowed me up.

The rest of the race had me feeling strong at times and weak most of the others.  I felt I had no chance and started to fear that I would get dropped.  I thought about my friend who got dropped the day before and told myself that I would fight to the death before getting dropped.  Towards the end I found almost everyone breathing hard and showing weakness.  I actually started to feel strong again but I knew I had a limited burst in me.  I saved it for my plan #2 that I devised yesterday when I pre-rode the course.  It would of been successful but then I made my second big mistake of the day that put me somewhere at tenth in the end.

Yesterday I thought I read the race description and I "THOUGHT" that it said that the finish would be 1/10th of a mile after the last turn. I counted back from that I marked a mile out.  I thought that if I went on a break with one mile to go the group would just disregard the seriousness of it and lay back a little.  Usually breaking free so fast is fruitless and the peloton will overtake before the end. I passed my marker and charged out hard.  I took a glance ... only one guy came with me and all the others started to demolish and it all looked like the group was in dis-array.  I felt the power draining out of my legs and I wasn't hydrated.  I looked at the racer behind me and he looked like he could go hard.  I said "Go" and we sprinted as hard as we could.  He sling shouted to the front and I thought he would take the win and I would hammer for second.  We went around the corner and as I hear the sounds of a massive pile up behind me I was startled at what I saw ... nothing.

I had read the course description wrong!  In fact I had two miles to go and the finish was on top of a climb. I barely made it to the climb and up the two switchbacks to the finish.  I was so mad at the finish not being were I thought that I did not pay attention at how many riders took advantage of my 3 mile lead out.  It was a very stupid move to not read the route description correctly.  It actually said the finish would be 1 and 1/10 miles past the turn.

So there is how it went down.  It was a good race and I had fun.  If I were to know about the finish being on top of the climb I may have been in the money.  The one thing besides my mistakes that was bad was the organizers not being able to tell me my placing.  I am not aware of how road cycling goes but I am used to seeing results.  All that seems to matter is the winner and everyone else is just slower and finish with the pack.  Bogus!  So I will wait for the official results.  I suspect somewhere near tenth place.