I'll be racing in my 1st cycling specific road race in the morning. It's called Oak Flats. It'll be 4 twelve mile loops on a somewhat mountainous course located 9 miles south of Tijeras New Mexico.
I've done 74 triathlons/duathlons and a couple centuries, but never a cycling specific road race. I've been tempted before, but have never pulled the trigger. There's a lot of tactics, team strategy, and drafting used in road racing, as a triathlete I haven't practiced at those skills much. Plus most of the people who race road events are pure cyclists. They're great at cycling because that's all they do. Right now I'm training for Ironman Arizona, so only about %50 of my training time is dedicated to cycling. On one hand I'm in good shape & I'm weighing at an all time low, but on the other hand cycling is my weakest sport. The lightest I've raced at before was at the 2010 Dog House triathlon & the 2010 Chick-Fil-A tri. At those races I weighed somewhere in the high 180's to low 190's & I finished 5th & 10th overall, right now I weigh 182. I'm hoping being another 10 pounds lighter helps my racing performance.
To ensure the best performance I'm capable of I did a small taper this week. This was my 1st taper of the entire 2011 season. It felt great to have a little down time. Let's hope it helps me out on race day! Wish me luck everyone, I think I'll need it! Let's hope I keep the rubber on the road!
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