Providence Day 2- Double down written by Justin Lindine

You would think that yesterday would have been a relief, and in a lot of ways it was, but the thing about racing-the sort of maddening inconsistency of racing-is that you are only as good as your last race.  If yesterday was a day where I felt vindicated that I really belonged at the front end of these races, today was the pressure to show that day 1 had been no fluke.  Today there was the pressure to repeat.  To add to that pressure, it seemed like the course, with wide open straight-aways and gently sweeping turns, would favor a type of group racing that would make pulling off the double a little more difficult.

            The more I pre-rode the course though, the more I liked it.  I was confident I could do something with it, confident I could figure out some way to work parts of it to my advantage.  As I had assumed the first laps of the race were flat out, and dominated by a lead group that formed of about 20 riders.  It could just be me being paranoid, but I’m pretty sure that my absence on the front for the first lap ( I was sitting about 7-10^th) was psychological fuel for everyone who assumed I’d be too wiped from yesterday, or not as able to use the course to my advantage.  The pace was fast, but no one was really taking initiative either and when we hit the pavement starting the third lap I decided the time for sitting in was about over.  I attacked for ¾ of the almost 1km pavement stretch and when we hit the turn exiting the asphalt the lead group was down to about 10 riders.  Sweet.  From there I just continued pinning it out of every turn and pushing the limits of my Challenge files in the turns.  Soon I was riding off the front and the game of steady and smooth was on for another day.  Behind, the race for second sounded pretty dramatic and after I had crossed the finish line, glad to not have to tackle the 20+mph barriers anymore (super scary) I watched Luke Keough outsprint Derrick St John for second and was pretty psyched that I had kept myself out of that melee.    

            If the first day was confirmation of the form then day 2 proved to be an authoritative stamp on the weekend.  Confidence is a funny thing in bike racing.  It can be a heady drug that leads you to get carried away and cocky but it is also an indispensible source for self-motivation.  Winning generally leads to more winning if only because you believe you can, and that’s more then half the battle sometimes.  For now, I’ll hope I can keep the streak going.