Trampled by Buffalo

I like this course. Several small power climbs per lap, just my style. Felt great Tuesday and Wednesday so I was expecting to do well, except Thursday and Friday I didn't feel that great. 2 days of form this season and no results, awesome. I hope it comes back soon.

51°F and windy as HELL, says 18, felt like 30
Ergomo Pro/Spin
Started out at a good pace. People were breathing hard after the first hill. I was concerned about the way my legs felt, they just didn't seem 100%. Every lap continued to get harder, but I was doing fine, staying in the top 10. I knew this was how the race was going to develop. It was going to get harder and harder till there were several real hard efforts and that would determine how things looked. On the 3rd hill climb, Tibbets was setting a pretty hard pace, I was second on his wheel and it was hurting. We hit the base of the big climb and he backed off a little. Other riders started to come by and were pushing it. I dug deep to go over the top with the group. When we hit the top the speed kicked up and everybody started going by me pretty fast. I tried but couldn't respond, I needed a second to recover. A small gap formed. We made the right hand turn into a really strong head wind and I was toast. The field was riding away and I couldn't close. This broke me mentally. Dropped on the 3rd lap. A few minutes later Todd T and Piotr S caught me. I'm surprised by that little guy. He's tougher than he looks and finishes his races. We started working together. Piotr didn't last long. Todd and I were pulling hard. We finally picked up Lance Christiansen and he had the strength to work with us. The 3 of paced for 3 laps as hard as we could and were getting nothing. There were a few 3's way up the road, but it didn't look like we were catching them. I wanted to quit the lap before. I was battling in my head. Constantly struggling to stay motivated. I gave in and quit. I felt bad because I was leaving Todd and Lance to work on there own. I wanted them to quit too, that way I would feel better about quitting. I wanted one of them to give up before me so i didn't have to be the one. I tried to look on the bright side, enjoy the course, the nice bike I had to ride, but I just quit. I've had a good discussion with Jamie about this, she will be disappointed. I'm disappointed in myself now that I DNF'd. I watched everybody finish. Only 30 more minutes. How hard is it to ride for 30 minutes? Even 60 if necessary? I justified by deciding I was racing for a spot out of the top 10 and it wasn't worth it. But I wish I would have finished now.