Victory!...And Then Some

The heat of summer is here, and times have been busy. That is, busy bike racing, and busy trying to make money so I can bike race. I haven't been blogging frequently, and I've got a lot of updates and info to give, so go grab a cup of coffee or your favorite ice-cold beverage (especially if you don't have air conditioning), and enjoy.
Yesterday: Mike Horgan Hill Climb (road race). I came into this race not knowing what to expect, as I hadn't raced on the road for 3 weeks, and I had only a few days of training in my legs after having a whole week off (to rest, but then I also got sick for a couple of days). Luckily, I made the good decision to pre ride the course, which turned out to be a key part in my victory (sorry if I just ruined the ending to my story--but then you should have guessed by my title).
The race started off with a fairly fast tempo up Boulder Canyon, with some guys trying their hands at attacking. I just sat near the front of the group and let other people work. The steep pitches came, and people started falling off the back. Eventually, the group was pretty small (though I never looked back to see how small). I have learned to listen to the breathing of racers around me, and towards the top of one of the steepest sections, I noticed that guys were breathing harder than me and the group was slowing. Knowing that there was a downhill section coming, I did what has been dubbed a "mountain biker attack" where I ramped my pace up to an uncomfortable level, and then kept it there for maybe two minutes. This resulted in me riding everyone off my wheel, except for one guy. From here on out, the race became basically a time trial, as the guy I was with only took a couple of short pulls for the 15 or 20 minutes to the finish. I believe he was really was having trouble with the pace I was setting, so I was ok with him sitting on. Nearing the finish, I could not see the chasers behind us, so I concentrated on saving energy for the finish. Sure enough, at 500 meters to go, my companion accelerated, trying to shed me from his wheel. For a second, thought he was going to succeed, but then he gave up. I waited two seconds, and then attacked with everything. I won! Looking at the finish times later, it was obvious that my breakaway companion had sat up when I accelerated, as he finished 6 seconds behind me. Shortly after I finished, my teammate Steve came through in 5th place to top off a solid race for Colavita.
This win came at a key time for me, as I am planning on moving up to Category 2 in a few weeks. I was getting a little worried about not getting a win before the move (though I have many solid results), so this win couldn't have come sooner.

Note: I was going to talk about the last several weeks of racing all in this post, but it is long enough already. I am going to start another post for those stories (see above).