Gone But Not Forgotten?

It has been a few months since my last post, and with that post there was a lot of optimism for my cycling season. I managed to get one of the first races in the season in and I had hoped it had been more of a confidence booster. My first Cat4 race was a complete bust for me. Do be fair I did choose a race with one of the toughest climbs of the season so I had two things going against me. After that I started to put in some miles on the bike, but life(as it often does) had different plans for me. I spent an entire month off the bike. My wife and I moved and before we moved in we did some remodle work on the house. All my spare time went to the house so we could keep our move in date deadline. I got back on the bike a week ago and rode a couple of days. Man did I feel it. Not only had I lost some speed, but while I was off summer had come on full blast and the temps have been well over 100 degrees. I was not use to riding in these temps. My head felt like it was a teapot and I needed to release pressure every time I got on the bike and even attempted to keep with with the group. So not only had I slowed down but now everyone had a month of training advantage. I fear my road season has now become nothing more than training for Cross and onto next year. I did try on a race for size this past weekend. State Line Road race was its name and it was the first annual. The course was 6.5 miles long and the mens Cat4 had to do it 7 laps worth. That is a little over 45 miles. I really liked this race. The route was nothing more than a big rectangle with very slight rolling hills until you got to turn three which had a sharp over a 90 degree turn with a sharp climb. Not a major climb but you had to really slow down for the turn so you couldn't carry any momentum into the climb. It felt like a series of stair steps until you got to turn one. My official placing in the race was 41 out 57 riders. I wasn't completely dissapointed with this cosidering the amount of time I have been out of the saddle. I thought KCOI Boulevard racing team put on a great event. I will absolutely do this race next year, and hopefully place better. Now I think I will try doing one more crit this year maybe 2 out in St.Louis. I see how much I improve between now and labor day. It is a lot of money to spend to go get dropped.