Friday, August 17, 2007

Bad day in the saddle

Upset with myself and the race. Started off well enough, second row on the line. We went from the gun. Super windy and cross windy. New with super curvy narrow roads for most of the race how important is would be to stay near the front. Spent the first 2-3 laps top 15, following moves and generally riding aggressively with my teammate Jim. This guy is an awesome strong rider, one of the full season dudes. After a few laps my mind wandered a bit and I started to focus on the hurt instead of what needed to be done. And I drifted back. And this is where the race got painful. I was no longer cornering well, letting gaps go, plus having to close other gaps, I was sprinting from the corners badly - no jump and my timing was off. Overall a bad day. Lasted about an hour before getting popped with a small group and then not being able to close this new gap. Like I said, I was not happy. Needless to say, I will be taking a nice easy day away from the bike today. Taking the bus into Brugges with Jim. Sit on some patios and relax for the afternoon. No time to dwell on the past, gotta take the lessons and come back angry and strong for the next race. I need to get more aggressive fighting for wheels sometimes. Thats it. Not much else to say, really pretty upset with myself and my performance. I know I have the legs to do better right now. Just gotta focus. Only 10 days left here in Europe for this season, gotta make the most of it. Gotta go back with a few more decent races in me. I'll talk to Bernard today and see how many more races I can squeeze in. Hopefully 2-3 more would be good, but honestly I'd rather leave with one more really good race than 3 half-asses ones. Perhaps a few drinks with my sports psyc Nicky are in order when I get home?

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