2009 Hell's Kitchen Road Race (14th out of 60+: CAT 5)

Well I've been meaning to update for a while but I've been waiting for the results for Hell's Kitchen to be released. I'm bothered by what was posted as the results. You can check them at the bottom of this entry:

I'm fairly sure that I got 14th place out of over 60 CAT 5 riders. I was definitely one of the stronger riders in the race and overall I did well. I could have placed better if I had attacked harder on the Hell's Kitchen climb and stayed with the lead group. I was the first rider in after the leaders, and there weren't any other riders strong enough to help me bridge the gap. I had a couple guys on my wheel but I dropped them the last couple miles to the finish line.

The race was cooooold starting out. I think the temperature was 42 with the high being about 48 by the time I finished. I didn't really warm up much at all, but honestly I don't think it hurt me at all. The race seemed really easy and laid back, I just wasn't prepared for the hard pace we pushed going up the final climb. The sudden hard effort is the most I've put out in the last year since I haven't had a chance for hard training rides this early in the season and I was off the bike so much last fall due to my broken collar bone.

Anywho, the race was a blast and I'm really looking forward to my next race on the 29th. I'm expecting to win the race and finally CAT up, but I don't want to gloat too much in case I fail miserably. :P


Here is the church which held the registration. Where is everyone?


Oh everyone is standing in line at the porta potties.


I wore the kit I wrecked in last fall.


Here is my bike pre-race.


Some guy I pulled the last mile tried to challenge me to a sprint at the end. It was actually kind of fun :P

Chad Payne and Chris Rost were at the race too, but I didn't stick around very long after the race to see how they did. Chris got somewhere in the upper 20s in the CAT 5s, and Chad Payne got 9th in the CAT 4s. I know Chad is doing the Dogwood Road Race on the 28th instead of the North West Arkansas Spring Classic on the 29th. I'd really like someone to go with on the 29th, but as of right now it looks like I'll be going solo.

Anyway that's it for now.

View the full race results here:
http://usacycling.org/results/?permit=2009-256