Racing So far...

has been less than stellar.  With two more races on my schedule I want to go back to the drawing board.  I still have some hope I can up my game by mid - July for the Omaha weekend but I think I may target something for late August or September.   Something like the Gateway cup in St. Louis.

This weekend I raced a lot better than ever.  Saturday, the weather was near perfect.  80s for temps, and no gale force winds.  I think that is about close to perfect in Nebraska.  The course was very nice too.  Smooth asphalt with very few road hazards which were marked.

This race was short for me.  I hung with the group on the 8% rollers of the first leg.  A couple times I would get tailed off the back but quickly recovered.  The second leg I found myself in a break.  Two Kaos guys were let off the front.  They may have had 30secs.  Then Brady M. of the Trek team bridged with me on his wheel.  We had a good gap and started rotating.   Not sure why they did it but the Trek team shut this break down. 

The 3rd leg of the race introduced the cross wind and some more hills.  With the cross wind the race went into the gutter.  I survived a few rollers but eventully I fell off at the crest of a hill.  Just 5 feet out of the slip stream.   I didn't blow up... I pushed hard to get myself back on.  So close, I could heard the group.  They inched away.  The officials car slowly passed.  They could hear me fight and sometime yell things.  That was it.  I was off the back. 

I still had some hope to get back on, so I kept a solid tempo.  I waited for Dan and we worked together to finish.  He was going to roll off after the first lap but stayed on for another.  I was glad.

Sunday's Masters Crit race was fun.  Another nice day in Norfolk.  Ten of us rolled off the start line.  I wanted to win this race.  There was about 5 off us with similar abilities.  Eric OB was riding well this year and I knew he had a good sprint.  Rich P. is strong he has great steady state speed.  Jeff on the CPC team was fast and a seasoned rider.  Then there was Craig H. who could ride smart and pull out a great sprint.  Craig was on the team so I wasn't really worried about him.

There were several attempts to get off the front.  I tried one of them but I was quickly pulled back by mid race we knew that it was going to be a bunch sprint.  My main competition in the 40+ group was Eric OB.  So I asked Rich if he wanted to get away.  We never got anything going.   On the prime lap, I was boxed out on the right side.  I rolled across with some good speed and kept on going.  I had my gap for 3/4 of a lap but let up.

With 5 laps to go it was very slow at time then fast. 2 to go, a Trek team rider got on the front.  I was 3rd wheel.  That is where I wanted to be.  Then it was a game of chicken.  Who would jump first.  I am a little foggy on what happened next but I was still sitting 3rd wheel waiting for someone to come around.  The lead guy had good speed so I was happy to stay there a bit longer.  Then Eric OB accelerated around me and was far left on the road.  I stood to go with him.  It was a drag race and he got the jump on me.  I heard he was having chain problems but he was still going good.  Then he dropped his chain and fell out of site.  I kept hammering.  I crossed over to win with Rich P on my wheel.  Very, very fun!

One more race to write about the Cat 3 Crit