It is with great regret that I write that a rider has died. A category 4 rider ran into a truck at some point during monday's Holy Hill Road Race. A huge shock to the entire superweek community, and a moment of silence as well as a memorial lap took place at the start of yesterday's criterium -in all categories, including the Pro/1. Road Races...they're the purest form of bike racing, but also the hardest to put on. You cannot really pin the blame on the race organizers, the driver of the truck, or the victimized rider. It's really one of those .000001% probabilities that's sometimes a statistical reality in this sport. All that can be done is add a few more zeros and decrease the likelihood of something catastrophic happening. Just be alert, if you're off the back, be careful. That's it.

The Holy Hill RR:

The conditions were miserable -at best. Forget the rolling course profile or the strong winds. The real obstacle was the temperature and the humidity. The race was shortened from 12 laps (100 miles) to 8 laps (75 miles) due to the airlifting of the injured rider to the hospital. Race started off at a rapid clip. Strung out through the first lap, just about. Lots of position battles, almost like a crit. Second lap I found myself in what I thought was the middle of the pack. I look back, there's almost no one left! Half the field was dropped after 1 lap. Masochistic, maybe, but I get a huge lift when I look back in situations like that and find that I've made the selection. More gratification than masochism, I guess, but regardless, I used it as a boost. If you'll remember, I wanted a good result here, legs were okay (not stellar...but everyone was hurting on the day, and I had 2 full days off). A large group of 12 slipped off the front. I didn't think it'd stick, as the yellow jersey and lots of other good riders were still in my group of 30 or so. Hm. Their gap grew exponentially. Gah...missed the winning move. Ah well, a couple little attacks in our group didn't go anywhere, then I went with Old Man (and winner of the Whitnal Park RR) Steve Tilford (Trek) on a counter. It's funny, I made the same exact move last year, only instead of Tilford it was Erik Saunders. Last year I was unable to stay with Erik, but I stayed with Tilford. We caught up to a teammate of his, and the three of us worked nicely. A lap later we picked up Garret Peltonen (Health Net). I felt swell, it was a good group. We were well clear of the group behind us, and about 2'30" back of the lead group. I thought we could catch them, but the other guys weren't as spirited...Eh. Two guys bridged up to us. A Hong Kong National guy, and a Sierra Nevada. "Let us rest a bit!" they clammored. Eh. We caught two riders dropped from the lead group as well. We'd be sprinting for 11th place. Not quite what I wanted, but a decent consolation. Last lap comes. There's a pretty short but steep hill about 150 meters long, and only about 4k from the finish. I thought for sure Tilford would try something, but we all just rode tempo over the hill. I couldn't help but think "I can outsprint these guys with one leg...they're making a mistake by not attacking here", but they didn't, and I was grateful. Here's where it goes to shite: The course is 8 laps. Usually, the place where they have lap cards (saying "X laps to go") is where the finish line is. This is true in 95% of races. So we made the final right hand turn, all 7 of us together, with 1k to go. Everyone was waiting, and with 200 meters to go, I jumped and handily took the sprint, just as i'd envisioned....except...that wasn't the finish line! F. I almost missed the "extra" left hand turn, that was still another kilometer to the finish. I was beat to hell, but got back on to the group. We're 500 meters out, and Tilford's teammate in 5th wheel gaps myself and the sierra nevada guy out. What a jerk. What cheese tactics. I think I could have still won the sprint despite the effort 30 seconds earlier, but ah well. Then, Tilford's teammate starts sprinting me, and I looked right at him and said "you serious?", and took the sprint for 15th. Gah. It's my fault though, no one elses. I'll live with it 'till I can improve on that result.

Cedarburg:

I'm really sour about this one. I didn't feel good on the day. Didn't deserve to finish in the money considering how I felt, but over the last few laps, I moved up considerably, and made some nice moves late, and was almost certain I'd be in the top-25 (that's how deep money is), and would keep the money streak going at 9 straight races. I finished 26th. Total bummer. I was shocked. I thought I might have even pulled off a top 20, but no. It was a great course, with amazing crowds, and I choked. That's twice i've been 26th. Potential loss of $100. Ah well. I calculated this morning, and total prize money earned so far (including primes) is $510. Green Bay today...if I can find a way out there (it's the farthest race in the series...wayyyyy up there). Addio!