WNS - Priddis Road Race

After having rained all week, including through most of Wednesday afternoon, I was sure the race would get cancelled, despite the posting that said, "well - it's on, for now."
Mike and I showed up early and were surprised to find about 20 cars in the parking lot already!
Rain was coming down, but not too hard, so the race was still on. It would be reduced and the 3 categories would be combined, starting at the same time and doing one lap (instead of the planned 2 for category A).

While walking up the embankment to the road, my cleats got filled with mud and I proceeded to spend the next 10 minutes scraping out the debris so I could clip in. Seems to be a big problem with those Speedplay pedals.
Just as I finished, the race began. Immediately the pace went up, over the first couple of rollers.
I was hurtin', having had no warmup at all.
I did everything I could just to hang on, during the initial rollers, turning into the crosswind, then again turning North into the headwind.
Then, *BOOM*, an attack, Cody C I think. Had nothing in my legs to respond. It was a somewhat familiar feeling, one I can't stand.
Found myself 20m behind the pack, then 30m... teammate Stephen Pickett joined me, but seemed unable to help bridge.
I tried a few digs which at times felt like it was closing the gap, but into that headwind it was futile.

Up and over the final climb, and we were joined by teammate Alan Oickle on the descent, and we worked our way through the final few kms.
Alan did one huge pull leading up to the final riser before the finish. Stephen attacked, and although I felt fine riding at FTP/threshold, the moment I called upon my anaerobic muscles I knew something was wrong. I should have had a big bang at the end, but instead it felt like I was firing blanks. Weird... not tired, just busted...

Here is a neat video of us 3 rolling through the finish line, not long after the top 9 guys ahead of us.

Epilogue: Tried a couple recovery rides on Thursday, but it didn't feel like the legs were ready yet.
Rode in easy on Friday, then 100km home via Bragg Creek with Darryl and Mike. Held up okay during long steady efforts at around FTP, but again, nothing doing with regards to anaerobics...
Sharp pain afterwards in both lower hamstrings and quads, wonder if I pulled or tweaked something, ligament perhaps?