Ada Recap

Hey all, sorry i havent been updating. I've been busy getting ready for college. You know, student loans, scholorships, books, supplies, food, etc. Well ANYWAYS.... Saturday was the Delta Imports/Ada Crit, and a fun race it was.

First off, i felt like crap durring the race. I was fine warming up and everything, but when they said "go!" my legs were dead. Any little gap that formed, forced me to dig to close it.

This is a fun course, thats for sure....a little sketchy, but fun. The finishing straight is just that, a long straight semi-downhill road. Then the first left hander, nice and wide plenty of room to dive to the inside if you miss the pole on the corner. Then the road narrows, it goes from about 3 lanes, to 1, and there is another 90 degree left hander. So if you werent at the front, you had to slow way down to get around this corner. Then it was flat as the road gradualy turned left again, only on this part of the course, there was no curb, and the shoulder was messy. Then came the most dreaded part of the course. The chicane. It was a sharp left-right sequence. It wasnt that bad if you were at the very front, or the very back, but anywhere in between, if was dangerous. The turn was bad enough, without the manhole covers, and the pothole and the riders not holding their line. After that it kicks up slightly, a right hander, then your in the finishing straight.

Our race started off nicely, considering i was doing tempo for the first lap. From the gun, i went to the front to try and controll the peloton, and it seemed to work...at least for one lap. Then i pulled off and jsut sat in the group, because, like i said, i didn't feel very good. There were a few breakaways, but they all got pulled in, and there were three primes, all of no interest to me. With 3 laps to go, i started moving myself up to the front. And going into the last lap, i was sitting about 9th. I don't know exactly what all happened in the race, but i know there were some tense people out there. I know this, and the riders around me at the time know this, because i was threatened.

On the last lap, on the back straight, some guy decides to get out of the saddle and strech his legs, and his handle bars start swaying side to side. Now i know im reletively new to the sport....but last time i checked, when your in the MIDDLE of the peloton, and its tight, you dont get out of the saddle and move your bars around. Well his bars ended up hitting me in the thigh. Now im used to things like this, its the norm...but it almost knocked me off my bike. So i turned and looked at him and yelled "what are you doing!?" and his response was a little less...kind. Youngins, please skip forword to the next paragraph. His favorite word appears to start with an F, and end with a K. Because he yelled back at me "I got ____ pushed! You little ____er! Want me to ____ing push you for real!?"

So as we approached the chicane for the last time, i looked down at my computer, and it said 31mph. I then looked at Scott, who was directly to my right and said "we are going too fast." Well i can honestly say, i dont think ive ever been that close to the ground, and still on my bike. We were so low, that Scott was accualy towering over me. He was lucky thought. His wheel skipped out, but he managed to keep it upright. Doug lost about 10 spots when the rider in front of him flatted and went off into the grass. The little hill after the chicane took out anything i had left in me. When we got to the straight, i just rode with whatever i had. Scott managed to jump up to the front and get 7th, while i settled for 11th. I then came home and slept a grand total of 14 hours.

I would like to congradulate James, and Alexy. From what i hear, you two rode a superp race. Managing not to get lapped by the peloton, and finishing with some adults in your wake. Great job you two! Don't worry, you guys will be up there winning cat 4 races soon.

I would next like to thank the Andersons for being our personal cheering section. I dont know about Scott, but i know it helped me and kept me going.

I see that James Bird stayed in the Cat 3 peloton. I dont know James that well, but i thought that i would share that he went to camp with me in June, and he raced the Tour de l'avanier. With Taylor Birman.

And to close...Ada deffinitly had the BEST PRIME ever! An ELECTRIC TOOTHBRUSH! Yes thats right, they gave away an electric toothbrush. Too bad it wasnt Joe announcing, i think he would have just gone insane if he got to give that out as a prime.

Oh yeah, almost forgot....the guy that yelled at me....some riders came up to me after the race....yeah he didnt get pushed at all. He just didnt know how to ride.