UVU Spring Classic

The weather this past week has been cold and rainy with plenty of snow in the mountains.  I was able to get up and ski last Tuesday which I loved but I didn't get to ride much outside on the bike.  It's been a bit frustrating on the bike due to the combination of the weather and a problem with my front Zipp 303 Firecrest wheel.  The whole wheel thing is a long story and deserves a post dedicated to that experience but it's still unresolved so I'll wait to see how it turns out.  It's enough to say that I'm not happy with Zipp right now but I'm giving them a chance to make it right before I give the full account.

Saturday I was lucky enough to race in the UVU Spring Classic in Utah County.  Again, the weather was not the best and we got rained on a few times but nothing terrible.  This was a first time race for me so it was an adventure for sure.  Familiar roads, as I had ridden with Jen around the Goshen area a few times last year but we had never done the climb up to Eureka and it is there that I got dropped by the leaders near the bottom of the climb.  I felt decent once I got into my climbing rhythm but it takes my body a while to get there.  I worked with 2 other guys on the way up and we agreed to stay together because we knew we'd have the wind on the long flat roads to deal with once back down.  I was glad we did because I think those flat roads were much more miserable than the climb up the canyon.  One thing I didn't do on this first road race of the season for me was eat properly.  I felt myself loosing energy and getting really hungry nearing the end.  It was a 58 mile race and had 1 gel which wasn't enough for me.  Lesson learned.  I don't know how I did place wise since they haven't posted results yet but I am happy with the sub 3 hour finish.  The Cat 4 race group was quite small which was another new thing for me.  Last year every race I did seemed to have lots of Cat 5 racers.  Even this race had a bunch of Cat 5's compared to our group.  I think I like the smaller group.  I'll be interested to see if it stays that way in future races.  The next one for me (besides crit races) will be the Antelope Island Classic in 2 weeks.  I'm looking forward to that.

Oh, I forgot to mention, I've put my name in for Lotoja again.  I'm going for Masters 35+ this year. It should be interesting, that is if I get in.  I'll find out in May.