Tour de Gaslight

The last check said we were supposed to get hammered with rain and wind. They were right about the wind. The skies opened up and the sun was shining. We ended up racing in 81 degree burning sunshine with 17mph winds. Can't complain.

We arrived to the course just after 10am. My start time was not untill 12:40pm. I went to the registration table and picked up my number along with some freebies including a 'Tour de Gaslight' drinking glass. This was by far the smoothest registration I have gone through.

Once I pinned my number on I kitted up and headed down to the course to spin a little and watch the Junior and Cat 5 races. Bike Boy got 6th in the Junior race. The cat 5 race surprised me. They actually raced. One team had two guys off the front and the remaining teamates blocked in the peloton. When did cat 5s start racing? haha

My race was a combined field race. The 3s and the 4s were racing together. As we lined up at the front of the pack, I turned around and was astounded to see the 73 member feild ready to race. We finaly started our 45 minute + 2 lap race, and it was fast. We averaged 26mph the whole race. It never really slowed down. Attacks came constantly.

Throughout the race I tried to stay on Larry Warbasse's wheel. He returned from racing in Belgium a few days ago and was riding strong. Two times we got off the front together, but the peloton pulled us in. I tried a few more times to get off the front. I was off a grand total of 4 times I believe. When I wasn't off the front, Tony was trying to attack, and when Tony was not attacking, Joe was.

There was one crash near the end of the race as we made the turn onto the finishing straight. No SLC rider was involved. With 4 laps to go I attacked again. I was trying to let my team rest for a lap before the sprint. As I got pulled in I was sent to the back of the peloton because of the speed. I took advantage of the wind and made my way back to the front. This required quite an effort. I managed to make it to the top 20 before the final turn. The feild swept wide and i was lined up with the curb. I had to break hard which cost me a few spots. I then got out of the saddle and sprinted for the line. Darrell and Chris were ahead of me, and Tony was to my left. He out sprinted me by half a bike length. As I dove at the line I looked left and saw two other guys right at the line I was not sure if I had beat them. Turns out I did.

I thought I was just outside the top 20, but I ended up finished 16th, Tony 15th, Chris 13th, and Darrell 5th.

It was a super fast race and my tanlines are enhanced do to not wearing sunscreen.

After the race the SLC guys and the Wolverines were talking to the Bissell guys who are returning to Florida today. The congratulated us on our racing. They said we are very clean racers and that they wanst to return in a few months.

Then me, my dad my freind nick and my brother pat went to Mongolian BBQ for lunch.

Thank you Pat Dad and Nick for comming to the race and taking a ton of pictures and video.