tired legs+hills=not fun

Well this past weekend was the French broad race weekend. The road race was 65 miles with a ton of hills. The race starts, and for the first time ever, my legs fill p with lactic acid as soon as i start pedaling. this is not a good sign. First we start the 25 mile junior loop. This loop was super hard. Not a single flat section. Every hill was steep and 1/2 a mile long, not fun. As we are going over this first loop no one is talking, most of the time people are talking during the race, making jokes, etc. not this race. We start the 2nd loop which is the loop that everyone does. It is a 40 mile loop with longer, more gradual hills with longer flat sections between. somewhere round mile 40 of the race, my computer quits working and I don't know how long we are in the race. At a certain point I start to see some of the bigger named riders heading to the front so I do the same. before I know it, I am passing riders while going up hill. sure enough we are on the second to last hill. This is a long hill, about 2 or 3 miles with a 3 mile false flat section leading into the hill so overall it was a long climb. With about 300 meters to go on the hill I loose contact with the leaders. then I get in the laughing group with my bud Stefan and go easy for the rest of the race. I end up 30th or something like that. Not bad for having some of the most tired legs I've had all year. If I had been somewhat rested, I feel that that 30th could have been turned into a top 15 very easily. The next day was the Criterium. MY legs felt noticeably better. The race starts and it is sunny and hot. I am doing well, staying towards the front of the field with my bro Stefan. About midway through the race, there is a 50 dollar prime. At this point there is a small break up the ride, but they are chased down right at the last turn. I am sitting 10th wheel and I begin to think to myself, my chances of getting a top 10 are slim to none, so I go for the prime. Surprisingly no one else did and I won the 50 bucks. I look back and i have a good gap so I keep pedaling. Shortly after I am joined by Eric Murphy. My legs are blown form the sprint, so I can't really work with him. I drop out of the break because one of the major teams is not in it and it is worthless to try. I get back to the field and it starts dumping rain. They begin shorting our race. With about 6 laps to go, puddles in the road are like 1/2 inch deep, and water is pouring into my eyes, I can not see a thing. Coming into 5 laps to go, the rain is still dumping and I am sitting 10th wheel, 2 wheels behind Stefan. I am not hurting too badly, but I can not see a thing. I decide to sit up and not deal with the rain in the eyes. Would I have been able to get a top 10? Probably yes. But do I regret sitting up? Absolutely NOT. I have the worst eye problems and the last thing I want to do is make them worse. Because of Stefans great positioning and good sprint, he was 3rd place behind some super legit pros. Great job Stefan! What a way to turn things around from the day before. Not bad for either of us coming off a 20+ hour intense week. Crossroads will be harder than this race, but this is a good sign for us both. This Weekend I'm not sure what I'll be racing. I might have to work on Saturday, but Sunday I would like to race somewhere. There is a race in Nashville and Atlanta. Also, Sunday is my birthday, so gong to one of those races could also be a fun night in the city. Thanks for reading the recap
the Crow