Race weekend......

I wasn't able to get a vacation day for the Gateway Cup, so I'll only do the first two. However, I was able to get a day off this weekend to give me the whole weekend off with two races to choose from. At first I chose to do the Sedalia/Otterville races, but then I remembered that Indianapolis had what I thought was to be like the Tour of St. Louis, a road race, TT, and a crit. I lived in Indianapolis for eight years and never did that race or really even heard of it since at that time I was mostly racing mt. bikes. So it was set, I went to Indianapolis. I was to wake up around 5am and leave by 5:30. I ended up getting up at 2am and never did get back to sleep, so needless to say I only got about three hours of sleep. I figured what the hell, a couple cups of coffee and I'd be good. Four hours later I finally arrive and register. They raced the 1, 2, 3's together, no big deal, 3's were going to be scored differently. Now here's where it gets weird. The race flyer called this a road race on a 2.5 mile course. I figure it's a typo and should have been called a circuit race. As we line it up the official says we're doing 80 plus 1, hmmmmmmm........that sounds like a crit to me, but on a 2.5 mile course? Then he says if you flat come back and you'll get a free lap..........how the hell does that happen, ride a mile on a flat???? Also, the course is on a road no wider then a one lane road, so about 6-8 ft. It's basically like racing over in Illinois on the MCT trails with covered trees on both sides. Really, the course I could deal with, but the race flyer was very misleading. The race finally gets going about a half hour late and the first lap goes without a hitch. Second lap a few breaks go away and one with a few 3's so I decide to chase it down. As I attack the climb up the hill I look back only to find two guys follow. Only two of us rotate pulls as the other guy only wants to sit in, so I'm back at the front. I'm propably doing 25mph when a 90* turn approaches. I come into it hot and had to lean the bike over pretty good and then I made a rookie mistake. I tried to pedal out of it and went right to the asphalt. The guy behind me goes down and ends up in the grass, mind you these roads are fairly narrow. At this point the main group goes by and I expend every bit of energy I have to latch back on. Very bad!!! I was already operating on three hours sleep and could tell I didn't have that extra gear to put into overdrive. Two laps later I'm dropped and one lap later I'm done. I didn't even stay to do the TT. Disappointed with the race I decided to drive back to St. Louis and do an actual road race. I visit my old neighborhood, then drive back to St. louis in time to get some sleep. That leads to todays race in Otterville, MO.

I met Brian, Denny's brother at 5am to make our way to Otterville. Thank god he's driving, eight hours yesterday is more then enough for this weekend. A little battered and bruised, but no worse for the wear. Todays race went well for a little while. I stayed at the front for most of the race, no more then three or four wheels back and played honorary blocker for my teammates who decided to go on the attack several times. My race went well for the most part until about mile 40 when the legs started to really cramp up. At this point I was still at the front with a teammate in a four man break. The peleton was really trying to chase it down now and some guy, upset that he couldn't get around finally crossed the center yellow line. He caught the break and was with my teammate Jeff as the last two on the break. I was sure Jeff was going to win it. Now to the last five miles, all the guys that I had seen for the first time since the start were also deciding to all move up, bad combination with my legs starting to cramp. We all made it to the final climb to the run-in for the finish and my legs locked up. I had to let everyone go by and go at my own pace. I ended up passing Jeff who was in the break, his legs were in full cramp mode and got passed by Denny. I ended up finishing just behind the pack, but was satisfied with the race as a whole. I really thought Jeff had it in the bag. Now here's the twist, the guy who won the race was DQ'd for the center-rule, and my buddy Todd, from Bigshark got the victory. Awesome race Todd!!! I saw him protesting with the officials afterwards, but seeing how he advanced several postions in that move, I believe it was correct.

Gateway Cup next!!!!!