Monday, May 18, 2009

Auburn RR

Sunny and coolish warm with soft breezes- lovely day for a bike ride. Matt got in an early break with two Specs, so me, Stull, and Steve just hung out and watched Bike Shack chase. It was a good chase but I knew Matt and his new Specs friends were too strong to be caught. I was just hoping Matt wouldn’t get suckered by double attacks at the end. As it turned out, Matt whipped them both and took the win!

Joe got caught up in a crash midway through the first lap that happened just behind me. The rider on my wheel got (sounded like) a front puncture and went down and took a handful of guys with him. That’s the third race this spring that the rider just behind me has crashed and caused a pile-up. I must have a vault of karma. For anyone reading this, I guess the lesson is: You don’t want my wheel.

So, it was a day spent critiquing Bike Shack’s rotation and chatting with various riders. Eventually, the chase sputtered out and a few secondary break attempts started to go. Steve locked on the front and pulled the group most of the way back to the first one, then Eric and I got on the front and watched for others. Around 80-90K in, it became apparent that everyone was tired and any attack was pretty half-assed.

Things ramped up with about 10K to go but nothing stuck. I put in my own attack on a far-too-small riser with about 2K but I didn’t get anywhere either so I went again at the 1K mark and got a little space. But I was caught before the 200m line. A lot of riders assumed it was the finish and sat up but I kept going and got out in front again. But I was caught once again just before the finish and rolled across next to Stull in 7th.

We hit Blind Tiger at 37th and Topeka Blvd. afterwards. I highly recommend the Road Runner for post-ride refueling. Large chicken breast layered with brisket and covered in lots of cheese and pico with a side of beans and rice. Wash it down with one of their brews. I went with the maibock… then the pale ale… then the IPA…
photo credit: Philip Wilkerson

3 comments:

  1. Dan,

    It was good to race with you, finally. I'll try to do more to help out next time, but that race was cookin' early on. Looking forward to Iowa...

    STV

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. When you pulled up to me after the first crash and said, "I'm still here." I had no idea what you were talking about. ha ha. I didn't know there was a crash until someone mentioned it later in the race. Good showing on Sunday, you guys rode smart. Couldn't ask for better teammates.

    ReplyDelete