Season Update - warm, freezing, warm again.....

With the trails still a mess, and the Bonebender MTB race postponed, that means one thing: road racing. Ya, I know: Studnicki and road racing? More than a few people asked me if I even had a road bike, since it's not very often i'm seen on one. Last Tuesday I headed out for a 90 minutes spin (on the cross bike) before heading over to the first Tuesday Night Lenexa Crit. The temperature wasn't too bad when I left me house but it got bad about the time I arrived at the crit. If sub 30 wasn't bad enough, the brutal wind was, and this THAT didn't make it miserable, then only have about 8 guys out there sure did. No place to hide in a group that small. The wind forced the "group" to echelon one way up the hill, then switch sides going down the hill. Being the biggest guy out there, it's tough for me to get much of a draft off of 100lb'ers. Never did feel my fingers the first 15 minutes, and I wasn't up for that kind of effort anyway, so I pulled the plug. Tried to spin a lap by myself then jump back in a few times but that is usually worse. I called it after 40 minutes or so and headed home. I'm MTB fit right now but not road fit (and typically never am). I switched up the routine later in the week and did some shorter, harder stuff. Yesterday I headed out to the Perry Road Race with Joe and Tyler. Not counting the Tuesday Night Crits, I've averaged about 1 road event a year for the past 5 or 6 years. The masters 35+ race was 4 laps with 1 good hill each lap. First lap lolly-gagged along. A few guys squirted off the front and formed a 4-man lead group. They dangled out there only 10-15 seconds till the 2nd trip up the climb. I pushed a good effort up the climb the 2nd time and got a good gap on the field and made it about half way across the gap to the lead group. One guy followed me and we gave it a solid effort across the dam to join the leaders. Once we made contact, the 6 of us worked very well over the remaining 2 laps and we all pulled equally. Coming up the finish climb, I led at the bottom before the flat middle section, before the guys sprinted past me onto the final steep section. I didn't have a whole lot of snap so I just kept motoring steadily along and started to catch back up near the finish. I nipped one of the other 35+ guys back right before the line but coundn't get the leader, so I ended up 2nd. Not bad for a 20lb bike I built up for about $500.