Last few weeks

Unreal that it is mid June already....slow down please summer
Have had a fun last few weeks, going back to Pigeon Lake Race.
Did not have huge expectations with a 120 km race as the only time I have ridden that distance this year was mid April.
With 45 guys in the pack, I made sure to stay top 10 through the race to avoid any crashes etc.
I am 100% still learning road tactics and being patient through out...as I messed up a few races last year getting to excited and chasing when not needed...and burning out.
A few teams of 5 or 6 guys watching them take turns sending guys out looking for rookies like me to chase them and burn out. patience my friend.
Fun course with 4 laps which included a head wind, 2 cross wind sections and a tail wind. I was happy how I placed myself in these sections, especially the cross winds.
Couple guys took off just before the tail wind section and decided to join them. 4 or 5 of us began a small gap as we were cruising with the tail wind and all....not the best communication between us resulted in our gap falling apart. Thats okay...3 guys again take off on final cross wind section, catch them as the loop ended. James takes off and the pace picks up. catch him heading into final corner before the 1.5 km finish.
Thinking I am in great position -4th - sitting on the center line with the cross winds...no... all of a sudden 5 guys come bombing bye us and I realize I am boxed in on the center line. By the time the 4 of us break up the 5 guys are 50 -100 m ahead. Sprint as hard as possible with 3 of us finishing within an inch of eachother - I was the loser of this placing in 8th.
Overall happy with my patience through the race, right postioning and more lessons learnt for next race. Don't dwell on mistakes, learn from them.
Next few weeks brought the usual 2 odd hours a week consisting of intervals on the trainer maximizing time. Love this one 10 secs Hard 20 secs Mid...for 10 minutes....burn burn!!
Last Thursday was a beauty Hammer Night with the Canmore boys. 75 odd kms - 2.5 hrs of goodness for the legs - hills and hills.
Friday off
Saturday on the 1A with Keith to re con Storm HC. 2 laps up that sessing it out...going to be a killer 17 odd minutes.
Sunday was on the trainer again
10 mins S.S 5 min cool 10 mins S.S 5 mins cool 1 mins hard 1 mins cool x 5 5 min cool repeat again
nice to do longer (10mins) just below LT followed by 1 min at or above LT
A couple walks in the afternoon up and down the hill to home...felt the legs pushing Seth up.
Overall great to ride 3 of 4 days to prep for the Banff race in 2 days
Had an invite on Saturday to join the RMCC team for the invite race. After thinking it over for a day I decided to stay in Cat 4 and try to gain points for upgrades. Being that I am only racing a few times this year, to give up 4 opportunities for points is too much to give up. The invite race would be a great opportunity to race with that caliber...the legs would not be there especially by Sunday's race though.
If it was last summer or next summer I am sure I would have accepted. But with the circumstances I need to take advantage of 4 stages and will still have a riot racing in Cat 4
Can't wait to suffer on Storm. Racing on home turf -1A road - will be so much fun. My first TT nad crit should be entertaining as well.
:)