Lago Vista Blues Part II of II

Rain in my face, embro in my eyes, ice in my shoes... and I loved it.
Photo taken by J.A. Hicks

Many people know Lago Vista as the hardest race in the state. Some have even went as far to say in the country… I go further and say in the galaxy. For those that have not done Lago before, it is a 15 lap race where you are either going up or down for the entirety of the race. I have seen racers who have gone on to do some great things in the sport, who have never finished lago vista. The biggest difference between Saturday and Sunday is that they change the orientation and we will be doing counter clockwise loops instead of clockwise.

The biggest difference between today and yesterday would have to be the front that came through over night. Yesterday it was 83 degrees and legs were cramping all over the place. Today it was 38 degrees, windy, and looked wet and drizzly. Luckily I brought enough clothes for the inclement weather and decided that I needed the training. Race miles are the best miles, right?

The race started off very fast. It almost felt like a method of survival to get the blood flowing as early as possible. It was cold, but not just any cold. It was that wet misty cold with 30 mph winds keeping your bones at a nice crisp temperature.

As the race continued on I could feel my legs were not in the right place. I was hoping the layer of embrocation under my legwarmers would ignite some sort of power. No luck.

As the race continued on I stayed attentive and towards the front. It was a weird race though. Gaps were opening earlier then they should have, and once a gap opened they were not growing like they normally do. I found myself at the front just trying to survive. As the laps started to tick off I used the steep hill to my strength and was riding strong. The long cross winds coming down the hill is what I feel would end up frying my legs more then anything else.

As the race started to split apart I found myself never making it into the lead split. However, all splits would slowly come back together. It was weird how things just never seemed to get going.  Besides being attentive to all splits on the steep hill, I used a lot of gas attempting a bridge to what I thought would be a winning move. Ben Spies and I got 3/4s across to it before we got stuck in no man’s land. Eventually we got caught from the group behind, which later caught the leaders that I wasted so many matches going after. By this point of the race would would be in the last 5 laps

At this point the temperature started to fall rapidly. I clicked my Garmin and it told me that it was 28 degrees. I knew it was only a matter of time before I would go off the back. My legs were done, my body was going numb, and my tears were frozen. With about 3 laps to go I lost connection with what was left of the main peloton. There was maybe 25 people left in the race at this point. Everyone else was smart and quite early. I ended up finishing the race it 21^st place. I rolled in with yesterday’s second place finisher, Collin Strickland. We were both beaten down by the course, weather, and competition. It was a race of survival. As I drove away from the race. I got reports that snow fell from the skies just moments after I left. 

I knew my legs were flat from a rough week of school I could not ride and things were not going to plan. As I type this last sentence I am sitting at an airport on my way to team camp were hopefully I will get a solid week of riding and racing that will jump start my legs a little bit for the rest of the spring.