First Meridian of 2006

1h 42m 21s
31.34 miles
18.37 miles/hr
Meridian Practice Crit
Above times include warm up and cool down. Warm up was for 35 minutes, and approx 9 miles.

I'm happy to say the race(practice) went off much better than expected. I had hoped to hang for about 20 minutes. I actually managed to stay on for 33.38.77 before I finally got blown off the back. At this time lastyear, I could barely hang for 15 minutes, and even then, I was always near the back. I felt I did a pretty good job of manuevering within the front or middle of the peleton,(I'm guessing around 50 riders +/-) until the last lap in a half, when I got near the back , and then eventually pushed off. When I popped, I took a recovery and then got back in for about 4 more minutes and then I was cooked.

After that, we (teammates Colin, and Chuck) did a few laps of recovery, and now I'm done. I'm totally exhausted, but I know I won't sleep well, cuz I'm way wound up. Oh yea, and for how hard was it, avg pace was 23.7mph w/ accelerations reaching 37.7 on the downhill. and during my cooldown, I managed to swallow a bug, which caused me to lose the rest of my lunch... I'd say I went pretty hard.

I'm not sure if it's fitness, being more comfortable in the pelton, or the new bike, but I'm stoked!