RR: Murarrie crits, Sat 17/03/2007

A good one out at Murarrie today. Rolled on out for the C-grade crit
at 0740.....

Signed on just after 0730 (late out of bed!!), and we were already
numbering in the 20's. Noticed that B-grade were already up to almost
50!!

I've been concentrating on my running lately so wasn't sure what to
expect today. Decided to aim to last until the halfway prime, and then
work things out from there...

Pace started pretty quickly. Worked out half-a-dozen guys who were
clearly pushing the pace. They kept tryng to breakaway as well. I
helped bridge a couple of times, but worked out pretty quickly I'd
kill myself doing that..... Fortunately, not all of them were getting
away each time, so the other couple opf really strong guys would bring
them back. But the constant surging to chase was smashing me around a
bit.

Up until the prime, I'd been working on staying in teh front third of
the field - but after that, I let myself drift back a little and take
more cover. I figured I had reached my first goal for the race, and
was happy to let any breaks go up the road.......

I reset my goals to last 'another 5 minutes' each time - until 25min,
then 30min, then 35..... I was really pleased with ho wI felt. The
legs were working really hard (noticing the lack of mileage), but my
aerobic fitness seemed really good. I thought if I could position
myself right and cope with the surges, I could make it to the end...

Finally we reached the last lap (40min + 3 laps all up), and I was
right in the middle of the pack. We were all together, with all the
breaks shut down. Yay!! I was so happy to be there!! The big kick
came along the back straight - I pushed like crazy, but ended up just
hovering at the back of the strung out peloton. Not sure who won...

Final stats: 38.5km/h average, and we covered almost 32km. I was
totally rapt with how I went - worked my guts out, but still never
felt like I was in danger of getting spat out the back. Of course -
it might be a different story in my Open C debut at Crestmead next
weekend...

Cheers,
Abby