OPUS #2

Its amazing what a week can do.

Last night I lined up feeling stronger more confident. Doing the Durand road race was very helpful training for this littl' training race. Anyways, The 5's just finished their race that included two crashes, taking my pal RC Cola down. He managed to get back up, and finish the race, but thankfully he's got plenty of jerseys on hand.

Anyways, the 5's threw some nasty-juju in the air and it was about to rain down on us 4's. Several laps into the 12, there were many occasions of "over-correcting" and shouting. People were squirrely. All over the place. I gladly gave up prime real estate for a safer position. It aint worth it.

Turned out to be the right decision. Although I was feeling strong and totally prepared to complete the 12 laps with the pack, a crash just prior to a sprint sent many to the ground, and the rest of us scattering for the gutter. I managed to escape the pain by riding thru the grass, over Dag's rear wheel, and back to the road. That created an insormountable gap that I could not close.

So I rode hard by myself for a lap or so, until I hooked up with a Flanders rider (Paul) and a Hollywood rider. The three of us took pulls and rode in a smooth, slower, style.

Ok, heres where the fun begins, The three of us are somewhat cheerful, small chit-chat until we pass the bell for the final lap. The things get "serious". We all shut up and start playing cat and mouse like we're finishing a tour de France stage.

Hollywood dude takes a pull. I sit on his wheel. Flanders dude takes a pull, I sit. we hit the bottom of the hill; third corner and Flanders dude pulls way as if to say, "I aint pulling you up that hill"... I sit up and wait for hollywood dude to coming around (sucka) and we line up behind him as we trump up the hill to the finish. He starts snaking all around. I wait...

then a quiet moment...

I HIT IT HARD and jam those pedals. Tom Boonen aint seen shit like that... I blow past both of those dudes for a beautiful 15th place.

Flanders dude and I laugh all the way back down the hill. More fun than finishing with the pack.

check out the 1/2/3's race: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3389914313720546862&hl=en

Thursday is Halloween Alaska show.
Saturday is Ken Woods.