Rumford
· Feb 5, 10:30 AM
Long sprints seem to be the norm on the domestic scene this year, and honestly, I’m not complaining too much. Yesterday was classic at Rumford and I qualified in just over 4 minutes. I did make it down to the 3:40s in the heats though.
There were only 29 guys racing yesterday and with a full field going through (“30” qualifiers), there wasn’t much of a premium on qualifying fast. Well, unless you wanted that nice $250 bonus for winning qualifying. I didn’t really think I’d win qualifying, but I also didn’t think I’d get caught. Being 16 or 17 seconds out in qualifying is bad enough, but to get caught while doing it, that’s just a little unnecessary. I had a lot of people remind me afterward that I did do a 50k on Saturday and I did kinda bonk, so maybe it wasn’t that surprising that I didn’t have a lot of life. And besides, qualifying isn’t really my thing. But still, 18th out of 29, ouch.
So, after the morning disaster I had a little food, relaxed (didn’t need to put my legs up and drain the lactate because I didn’t build any – oops) then get ready to do it again.
The afternoon went much better. I didn’t have a lot to work with in terms of energy, but just having people to follow (Chambo mostly, as we started in the same initial heat) really helped. I wasn’t ever going to make the race out there, but I followed along pretty well. Each heat felt the same or a little better than the one before it, and at the end of the day I made it through to the A final. I pulled down a 4th there, which was a bit disappointing. I really would have liked to be on the podium, but my sprint double pole failed me at the end. Ah well.
I’m a bit tired today, but hopefully this means I’m back on track for some better days this weekend. Carnival days again.
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