I wasn't too sure what to expect out of this race. It had been exactly ten weeks since my last race, which ended with me in an ambulance with a leaky lung and broken ribs. I am still experiencing some discomfort on the bike when pushing it very hard which was likely to be an issue. The ten week gap in racing, and five week gap in any meaningful training was also going to have an impact. I had also put in 250 km for the weekend and 650 km for the week before I pinned a number on yesterday, so I had some serious fatigue going on (-46.2 TSB for all you power nerds). All that considered, I'm actually pretty pleased to have been at least partially competitive yesterday and winding up in third place.
A big saving grace was that the pace was not the usual A grade smashfest (largely due to the fact that Trent West was probably as fatigued as I was). My average and normalised power for the race was around 30 - 40 watts lower than I would usually see at Glenvale. This slower pace definitely allowed me to ease back into things a little more steadily, but it still hurt a LOT. Having said that, full credit to Matt Locker for his win yesterday. He made a well timed attack late in the race and it stuck by about ten seconds or so. Some questionable commitment from all members of the chase group was also in his favour. So Matt stayed away for the win and I came second in the group of three that was left behind.
Overall, as stated, I'm happy with this race. I can definitely see some holes in my top end but I think all things considered, I'm actually in pretty good shape. The other positive to report is that the new Cannondale is absolutely superb to race on.
I believe we have another criterium next week. We'll see how that one goes...
