While all the svelte climbers are planning on doing Purgatory tomorrow, I decided to solo and double up in CT at the Nutmeg Crit. It was wet.
Race 1 - Realized early on that this was my first crit of the year, and I was pretty tentative at first, a fact not helped by the rain. I found myself sitting at the back several times where the sketch factor was high, but was not terribly happy closer to the front either. Somewhere around lap 10 (halfway), I realized that I couldn't see very well and took off my glasses, at which point things got instantly better - I was getting sprayed in the face, but at least I could clear that off by blinking. With about 5 to go, I moved up the right side behind a Cheshire guy who looked like he was planning an attack, but he didn't. So I figured "what the hell, I'm feeling good" and went. Nobody came with me, so I shut it down pretty quickly, then jumped back in near the front, content to have just vastly improved my position. Stayed in the front few wheels until sometime on the second to last lap, where I let myself get sucked too far into the middle of the pack and lost some spots when we got swamped. The last lap was crazy, with several guys losing control and going into the infield. Sometimes I'm too much of a wuss when it gets like that, and as a consequence I was further back than I'd have liked going into the final sprint, but managed to make up some spots on the final straight to get 13th.
Race 2 - Almost bailed on this one because of the rain, but embraced my inner Jens and did it. Sat in for the first half to recover, then worked my way up near the front until I got caught behind a crash. Didn't go down, but had to stop, so I took my free lap an jumped back in with 7 to go. Took a lap or so to get my legs back then started to make a big move up the right side. Got pinched into the gutter and had to go onto the grass to avoid one of the few potholes on the course, so I ended up right back where I started with the packfill. At that point I decided to just work on staying upright and mailed in the sprint.
The good: felt strong, had a great sprint in race 1, and enjoyed myself despite the rain.
What to work on: position, position, position - If you're not moving forward, you're moving back.
Good luck to all the climbers tomorrow.