Finally, the legs are coming around

Well I may finally be getting some sort of form back after all of my recent setbacks. I actually had a decent race last Sunday. We did the first round of the Post Cup which is an important 5 race series here in Denmark. I was at the front the whole time and learned how to ride in the crosswinds so that I was actually in the echelon instead of dying in the gutter. It was a much better feeling, especially when I looked around after a particularly difficult section and there were only 2o guys left and we still had 3. Unfortunately for me, I think I got a little too excited and started doing too much work. It didn't really hurt at the time, but I think it probably cost me that edge at the end of the race. With about 30 km to go a rider from the Blue Water team attacked on the one longish gradual downhill and I jumped after him without even thinking about it. It was one of a bunch of similar attacks that weren't really going anywhere all day. The only difference this time is that the field didn't respond and we ended up off the front with one other guy from Concordia who happened to be on my wheel when I went. The Blue Water guy was super strong, the Concordia guy was pretty bad, and I was somewhere in the middle. We worked well for the first 5km, but then the Concordia guy started sitting on. We only got up to about 30 seconds on the rest of the group and thats about where we stayed until 15 km to go when my team mate Chris bridged up with a guy from the Pro Continental team Vacansoleil. Then the pace suddenly got a bit harder and I went from being comfortable to being on the limit. Chris encouraged me to work as much as I could so that we could make sure to stay away, but I really should have started sitting on a bit since I was really on the limit. Instead I got dropped with 8km to go and got caught by the field. Chris ended up 3rd in the sprint.

It was definitely a bit of a tactical mistake. I think it was pretty clear at that point in the race that we weren't going to be caught since we had grown the gap up to 45 seconds on a drastically reduced peleton. If I had sat on then I would have had the opportunity to put in a couple of digs towards the last few km and I may have gotten lucky and not been chased, or atleast reduced the pressure on Chris and let him sit on while the others chased me. Still considering how bad I have felt the last month, it was nice to see some decent form. This coming weekend we are racing in England on a race that sounds pretty hard with some good hills and some bad roads. Hopefully I can build on this recent form and actually end up with a good result. All I know is that if I am one of 2 guys from my team in the final breakaway, then I will be there contesting the finish this time around.