A rocky start to road riding and a start to a new season

Between 2 major related midterms, a quick jaunt to LA for a Paralympic team
announcement and collegiate conference championships the weekend I spent at sea
otter with my NOW-MS society team was gently pushed aside.
After being on the bike for about a month since my break my goals at sea
otter were minimal, survival in the longer races would be awesome. My crit on
Thursday held a small field on a difficult course, I made it until 2.5 laps to
go until i ran out of brute acceleration to keep up with the field to finish
12th. The road race ended early with the field riding away on the main climb as
i dug myself into a deep hole then proceeded to limp back to my car after
finishing the lap destroyed and solo. The famous circuit race on Laguna Seca
ended better than expected, when I held out to finish with the second group on
the road after being unable to match the accelerations on the last time up the
climb. It was in this race where I really saw where my abilities stand. I had no problem climbing the steep pitched portion of the circuit at a constant pace, and was able to mark some of the early moves I saw dangerous as guys tried to get away. It was on the last lap where my body failed me. We came screaming into the climb, I was sitting 5th wheel or so, riding a hard tempo, and went into pursuit mode as we attacked the meat of the climb. On this lap I saw the winning move go up the road and while I tried my hardest to get there, I just don't yet have the strength and fitness to go with the guys with body types that would look at home on the Muur de Huy, not on a pursuit bike like myself. Coming home from that weekend and the next I have come to see able bodied racing at least for the present as damn good training. I can gut myself and attempt to play my lacking deck of cards, but cannot beat myself up when I finish short of a respectable placing.
More exciting than my mediocre placings at Sea Otter is that the Home
Depot Center velodrome will play host to the 2012 Para Track cycling world
championships, the last international competition before the venues open at the
London Paralympics that September. Please mark your calenders for the weekend of
Feb 10-12 to come cheer on Team USA on home territory as we compete against the
best in the world for the right to be called world champion.