Turtle Pond Circuit Race

I've been on trial on Martha's Vineyard for the last 3 weeks, living in a hotel room and eating 3 meals a day in restaurants.  The trial went extremely well, but between trial prep and trial, I've barely been on the bike for about a month now.  Thus, expectations were low for the Turtle Pond race.

It was a beautiful day for racing--sunny skies and warm.  We rolled out at 9:15 a.m. for 4 laps on an 11 mile circuit in Loudon NH.  I'd never raced at Turtle Pond before and I'd been told there were a couple of "short" rolling hills.  Based on this description I figured I could fake it for a couple of hours.

The neutral start took us to the top of the first hill.  As we went up the hill I was getting a bad feeling--10% grade and it seemed to keep going and going.  This did not bode well.  The remainder of the course was rolling hills, as described.  There was one hill on the backside that was noticeable but not too bad.  The last 1-2 miles of the loop was basically downhill and very fast.  My plan was to be at the front at the base of the bigger hill so I could fade back and still be in contact at the top.  By the third time up, I was feeling the leg cramps coming on and I knew trouble was brewing.  I lost contact on the 4th time up and pedalled squares for the rest of the race.

Not a great result, but good to get out there.