Sport

2008 Norfolk Classic Weekend Road Race

Take the tin man add sodium, high humidity and what you get at the end of a 64 mile road race.





That's right, Yours Truly. Rusty joints desperately in need of lubrications. If cramps were only so easy to cure.
I wonder if the spectators could hear the squeaking in the final sprint.
Or if the video was thought to have gone array with the stuttering of the clip.



I raced the Road Race as a Cat. 3 in the Cat. 1/2/3 field, consisting of 5 Cat. 1/2's and 7 Cat. 3's. Teammate and fellow Cat. 3 Justin M. flatted on the first of two laps never able to catch back on. As a team we had a strong Cat. 1/2 field with 3 out of the five contenders. Chris rode off the front early during the first lap and Ian was soon to follow. Matt went for the bridge while I did my best to block and disrupt flow. He actually made the break, but was too spent after arriving to keep up the brutal pace. He let go and we picked him up on the way by. I took 4 water bottles mixed with Gu20 and Salt and left one to get as a hand-up in the feed zone. I picked up my first bottle on the first lap, and two more on the 2nd, and drank them all. I ate one Cliff Bar and 4 packets of Gu. I felt pretty good during the race with an occasional muscle twinge, but noticed big problems while chasing an attack on the final stretch with cramping inner thigh muscles when standing to going hard. With 1 kilometer to go I was siting perfect at 3rd wheel, I waited as long as I could for the sprint which was beginning to wind up. I was cramping so badly I could not spin the pedals. I thought I was going to wreck, because I had to throw my bike from left to right, leaning in the opposite direction just to make the pedals go up and down, forget about them going round and round. Oh my, - the pain.

Took second in the 3's, 2 bike lengths back of the winner, Colton B. a very fine athlete, a Junior, congratulations.