Dogwood RR...

My race day started at 4:30am with young Grasshopper Casey arriving shorty after for our drive to Bradleyville, MO. It was an uneventful drive with only a few close calls with the highway patrol, until just outside Sprinfield. I lookd into my rearview mirror only to find johnny law. Yes, I got a ticket for 82 in a 70, nice way to start out the morning!!!

We finally get there, register, and change with just enough time to make it to the start line. As the race gets underway Shawn Oneal, as usual, goes off the front. He got a bit of a gap, when Jim V, from Get a Grip decides he's had enough and sets off to bridge. Nobody cares to follow and we finally see the last of the two of them. As the race heads out of town several people take up the pacemaking until it hits some of the steady climbs and teammate Jeff Yeilding starts to lead the group. Next thing I know I'm in front setting the pace. I was out there for a while when I decided it's somebody else's turn. Well, nobody came around so I stayed out there a little longer. Finally, somebody else takes over and shortly after the attacks start coming and guys try to get away. The wind didn't help them and all were caught for some more uneventful riding until the KOM. As we start hitting the climb I find myself about third or fourth wheel until about 3/4 the way up and my legs start to growl at me. I slow a bit only to find Grasshopper flying up the left side taking the pack KOM. Later, I found out Denny had told Casey he better go now and Casey heeded his advice. At this point I found myself about 9th up the climb with a gap between myself and the lead group of eight. Myself, Denny, and an Accelerade guy are caught in no-mans-land. We try our hardest to catch the group, but couldn't make up any ground. After a few miles the rest of the group catch the three of us. At this point there's about 12 of us and we try to get something going, but nothing ever really develops. Between the guys just sitting in, the guys just trying to survive, it was a very chaotic group. Not much organization or communication going on. We pretty much stay like this until the last 10 miles when we hit some of the last few climbs. I try to fight my cramps and stretch out while on the bike. I almost fell over one time when I'm stetching out one leg while supporting myself with the other and that leg cramps up!!! I can't imagine it being a pretty sight. As we make it over the last set of climbs we find ourselves down to about a group of seven. We end up with a sprint finish, I finish last in our sprint as I wasn't able to get out of the saddle without cramping.

As for the team, we finished strong, and Casey got a 6th place finish. Jeff, Denny, and I finished 13th, 15th, and 17th in that order while finishing together. Flatlander Matt Dawson, finished just behind us. I was happy with my performance while having to fight through cramps. My legs were tight from the start, so I'm happy with just making it through and being competitive.

Next up is the Tilles Park crit. I'm pretty sure I'll be doing that one.