Lucky Pie Crit – 7/7

My bike racing team puts on a critium race each year right here in Louisville, the entire team volunteers to run the race.  I started at 7:30am and was a race marshal until 1:30PM.  It was not hard and it was nice to see all the juniors and women racing hard all morning.  We hosted the kids ride at 12 or so and both Corrie and Riley did their age group races, they loved it.  Being able to ride the race course that we were all riding all day was super fun for them.  My race started at 3:25 with a field of about 50 or 60 guys in CAT 3.  I started in the middle of the field.  The course was very nice less than a 1k lap with a uphill and a fast downhill.  Most of the turns you could take without hitting the brakes except for the last one before the finish.  I rode hard but could tell that I was a little out of shape after spending the week in Crested Butte with the kids for the 4^th.  I stayed near the rear of the bunch until the last 3 laps and I knew I had to do something.  I made a hard pull up the hill and passed a few more on the down hill, this put me in top 10 or so on 2 to go.  But as 1 to go came around I was getting tired again and guys passed me again.  I rode hard through the finish and ended up 20^th place in the CAT 3 field.  The good thing is even though I placed back a few in the field, and did not feel that great I still managed to hold 340 average for 55 the 55 minute race.  Granted this is a ctit so the power is up and down, but a good average for sure.