I know it probably seems like I've been slacking on the racing this year but I actually did get out for the 3/4 race during my teams annual Fredericksburg road race. It's one of my favorite courses. Small winding roads that are rarely flat as they wind around the Texas hill country. This year it was particularly interesting in that the course included 3 low water crossings that were somewhat slick.
This was my first race with power and I started off strong but trying not to go to hard to early. The weather was definitely a factor. I traditionally have a hard time in the heat and it was in the low 90s with 60-70% humidity. The first of the two laps I probably did too much work bringing back a break and trying to make a good break happen. On the second lap I was still sitting up in the top 10 when my body started to rapidly shut down. I dealt with heat exhaustion last year and it took 3 plus weeks to recover. I started to feel the symptoms again and with State TT only two months away, I couldn't afford that time off again. I tried to dial it back and dump water on myself but the power didn't come back. I called it a day and pulled out of the race more then a little disappointed.
I'm on the left side of the road trying to get into the cooling
water shared by a local with a garden hose.
Post race notes were to focus more on food consumption and cooling to prevent my body from shutting down. I don't handle food well in races but I'm going to try a new mix in my bottles that a teammate suggested and see how that works. I also need to do less work. My numbers were very strong but that indicates more that I was doing to much work as opposed to really doing any damage. On a final note, the new bike was great but more on that later......
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