crossroads pt. 2

As I'm driving to the host home, (Stefans Aunts house) I am thinking to myself, what could I have done differently so that Stefan could have won? Rewind 1.5 hours. I am standing on the front row of start line. A steady drizzle of rain is coming down. Lightning lights up the twilight sky in intermittent segments. The race starts and my foot stutters. Riders begin coming around me as if they were a swarm of ants on a dropped piece of food. We go into the first turn, Stefan is fifth wheel, I am thirtieth. Four turns later, we hit the first long stretch of the entire crit series. As the rider in front of me slowly begins pulling away, I realize I don't have the legs. Four turns after that, we hit the second long stretch, the finishing stretch. My legs begin to crumble. I realize, it is not a question of IF I get dropped, but a question of WHEN am I getting dropped. Seven turns after we cross the finish line, my rear wheel skids. The guy behind me slides and takes my wheel wheel with him. I do not go down, however, I do get gaped. I continue on, trying to close gaps that I, myself opened. Around five laps in, I can not do it anymore. The constant turning, wet corners, and wet potholes have taken their tole on me.
As I head back to the car to begin changing, I think to myself, "What happened?" I cannot come up with an excuse other than I just did not have it. The legs were not there. The wind was not there. My heart just wasn't in it tonight. I change and head back to cheer my Aryan teammate, Stefan, on. As I begin stand near the finish line, Stefan is continuously in good position, around the top 10. A couple of laps later, a five man break is up the road. None other than Stefan is chasing them down. With one lap to go, Stefan is around 10th wheel. Coming into the finish, Stefan is in fourth wheel and there is a huge gap to fifth place. I immediately begin cheering, but at the same time, I am thinking what could I have done differently to get him the win?
Well for starters, I could have had better legs. Is that control-able? Probably not, but I could have done something differently leading into the race to have better legs. If Stefan had a lead out of some sort, he could have killed it. If he didn't have to reel in that break away, he probably would have won the sprint. It's so surprising for some to think that one mid-race effort can change your result, but it can. I believe if I had closed that gap instead of Stefan, the outcome would have been different. But there is no use in playing the what if game, I just have to look to the future and learn from the past. The next race suits me a little better. It is a "lumpy" L shaped course. Many of the big teams will be saving their legs for tomorrows big NRC race, but I am not. I did not get in that race, so THIS race is MY race. Stefan will be at tomorrows big NRC race so he will be conserving a little today. Possibly not even finishing. That is fine with me, after seeing him yesterday, I believe he can get a top 20 in Americas richest Crit. I will probably give a recap in a couple of days.
Thanks for reading,
The Crow