Saturday was the Antelope Island Classic which was my first ever road race last year and I had so much fun at the time that I was sure to enjoy this years as well, or so I thought. And really, it was enjoyable for the first 30 miles in. I raced with the Cat 4's which started at 8:00 a.m. I considered racing with the Master 35+ group but they didn't start until 11:45 a.m. and I wanted to get race over as soon as possible so that I could take my kids to the zoo in the afternoon. The weather was perfect for a bike race and having done the race before I wasn't a bit nervous. The race started a lot less hectic than last years as the main group stayed for the most part together across the causeway and back and for most of the laps around the north end of the island. By the second lap a few people started dropping off the back. By the third I was dropped as well. I found myself in no-mans-land riding by myself while I finished my laps and headed to the south end of the island. As I battled the wind I remember looking at my mileage and thinking that the turn around to the finish line better be coming soon because I was getting close to the stated end-mileage that was suppose to be the distance of our race group. I began to suspect that I did an extra lap on the north end. As I watched the riders in my group heading back toward the finish line as I was still headed out toward the turn around point my suspicions were confirmed as I saw riders who I thought were behind me now in front of me. I felt so stupid. I had thoughts of turning around right then and abandoning the race but I decided against that and just push on to the finish. I ended up finishing dead last of those that finished in my group having gone about 4 more miles than everyone else. Below is the Strava report on the ride:
After realizing my mistake I had a hard time staying motivated on the tale end of the race. I was so mad at myself but tried to just enjoy the beautiful scenery. But as I enjoyed the scenery I probably wasn't pushing myself as hard as I should. Like I said, it was hard to stay motivated at that point. Still, I'm already planning to do this race again next year.
That afternoon Jen and I took our kids to the zoo which was fun as far as the zoo goes (never been a fan) and with the weather being a bit cooler it made things a bit more enjoyable. On the car ride home we got stuck behind a major roll-over accident on I-215. Though we didn't witness the accident we were the first car stopped while they preformed the rescue effort. We tried to keep our kids occupied because it wasn't a pleasant scene. A women had been ejected from a truck and remained lying in the middle of the road and a man was trapped under the truck while rescue crews tried to get him out. I read later in the news that 3 people where in critical condition from the accident but they were all expected to live.
On Friday I hope to find out that I made it into Lotoja. I'm excited for that. I'm also excited to hopefully redeem myself at the B4K stage race later in the month which will be my next scheduled road race. That race comes on the heals of a vacation we plan to take so I'm hoping I will still have good fitness but really, I don't care because I'm looking forward to this vacation.
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