Stage 1 and 2 recap

Stage 1 - Circuit Race and Stage 2 Road Race in the books.

Yesterday's 45 mile Circuit Race went pretty much as I expected.  10 laps of the TT course with ~500ft climbing per 4.5 mile lap.  The first lap was ok.  I hung with the pack on the climb, but it was hard.  2nd lap, I got popped off the back of the pack about 200 meters from the finish of the main climb.  I caught back on after the descent.  3rd lap, I got popped early on the climb and my teammate, Tom, and I stayed together for the rest of the race behind the pack.  We ended up getting lapped by the winner Ben Day on his last lap, but we never caught or got passed by the field.  Results aren't posted online, but I think we finished about 14 minutes or so behind the winner.  I'll update this with results when they are available.

Today was longer (70 miles), but the climbs weren't as steep, so I did ok.  3-4 miles after the start is a hard, steep 600 ft climb that popped my teammate, Tim, and a couple others.  The next 35-40 miles were pretty steady.  Climbs were mostly a few minutes or less and I didn't have any trouble keeping up with the pace.  About 40 miles into the race is the main climb of over 1000ft.  This climb is broken into three steep climbs.  I kept with the main climb over the first, then got popped off the back on the second.  Chased on the descent and came within 50 meters before the final climb and never caught.  The rest of the race, I was riding alone chasing the main pack for about 10-15 miles to the finish.  I think if I was 5 pounds lighter or could put out a tiny bit more power, I would have been able to keep with the group.  Regardless, the finish of the race was on some pretty steep short climbs and I would have been popped there anyway.  So, I finished about 6-10 minutes behind the field.  One more race (the criterium) tomorrow.  I expect to do ok since it has very little climbing, is only 60 minutes, and is more of my style of race.  We'll see.