Hi

I'm at Superweek. Stage 2 just wrapped up, and the mind is still a bit too juiced to sleep. So perhaps some therapeutic writing will settle it down a bit...So on tuesday, 24 hours before my departure, all I had was a plane ticket. No housing arrangements. No ride from the airport. Rien. Wouldn't have it any other way. I was planning on putting my faith in public transport and going from there. Worst case, there'd be a story to tell, right? Chicago-friend Faris totally bailed me out of the bumming. Thanks guy. There is a story, however...this picture will detail it pretty nicely:

Awesome huh? Unlimited storage space with the top off. The bike case wouldn't fit otherwise. Great...except as soon as we loaded it up, it began to pour violently. Total madness. Plus we hit terrible traffic. Trains and rail crossings. Wrong turns. Stress. Rain? The whole bit. We made it though...I wish I had photos of the two of us holding umbrellas up at stoplights. Classic. Thank you Faris.

Day 1: Beverly Hills Classic.

I was staying in Evanston, Illinois and rode the 60k down to Beverly for the (100k) race. Too much. But I ate and drank like a machine...swell. The legs were OK with it. Thing about this first race...it's way to the south of the city. The further south you go, the more impoverished it gets....then you get to Beverly, and within a span of a few blocks, it's big giant houses and amazing lawns and lush greenness and $$$$$. I've never seen such a quick change up of that nature. This Subway was two blocks from the course:


The photo is a bit blurry...apologies. That's a 4" thick pane of glass. At a subway. I asked the clerk..."this glass is pretty serious. are you guys open 24hrs?" She laughed, and said they were not...but said it's a pretty serious neighborhood. Wow. I wonder what the banks are like? Two blocks later, I made it out to the race. Nostalgia in large doses. 3 years ago at the same place I lined up for my 1st Superweek race. The course is great. Crowds are massive. Big field, quality field. 100k. Everything....in its right place....

After lots of callups, they called up the rest of the field, and after the anthem, we were off. Legs=Tip. That hill felt great all 62 times we went up it. I consciously toned down any aggression given that I already had 60k in my legs with a massive 100k to go. It worked. Made it to about the 50k mark. Rationed my bottles perfectly. Finished the one on my downtube (thank you Prolong!) and would soon start on the one on my seat-tube. Nope. It flew out. In the feed zone, ironically. A giant full bottle. The only time i've ever launched a bottle with these cages. And what shite timing! Panic mode set in. The legs wanted to quit given the grim outlook. No water, 110k in the legs, 50k of racing to go. A break of 4 was up the road...6 in between. Then the shrinking peleton with me in it. What to do? I noticed a guy I knew in the feed zone who'd dropped out and was handing feeds to his teammates still in the race. I got to the front of the peleton, threw my empty bottle at him, and begged for anything. Next lap, ahhhh....what a guy. Full tall-bottle of water. MVP. Not sure if I should give out his name...so just gonna play it safe here and not mention it. The race...getting that bottle juiced up the legs even before I drank from it. I saw that the break had half a lap...hmmm...put in what was honestly a really half-ass attack on the backside. Tucked up, and settled in. One guy bridged. Then Bahati. Then Cantwell.,Candelario, and a few others. Hmmm...weird how we were allowed to stay up. at the meager pace we were keeping. At 15 laps to go, we were clear. Not gonna lap, but probably not gonna get caught. My theory is that the teams that lapped the field didn't want Rasaan back in the peleton helping his teammate in the finale. Theory. Soon afterward, there was GIGANTIC prime $ being thrown around. $200 each! To our little group...which happened to contain 3 of the best sprinters around. Gah. I'm not gonna take them to the line. So I attacked for the primes on the hill. I got clear. Right before the last turn, Cantwell got to my wheel alone. Gah. I told him "just go...it's yours" and was honest about it. It'd be stupid to attempt to sprint him there...waste of juice. He pulled through, and must have looked back 500 times in 100 meters to make sure I wasn't kidding him. Haha. The next $200, I attacked again, same spot, and got clear alone. Swell, put a bit more juice into it, and this time a guy who wasn't a top NRC sprinter found my wheel, alone. I got this. I led it out...he came around too early, and I made my move...thinking about the $200 and how great it was to get it. He made a nice late surge, and I had to throw the bike to seal up the $. Threw it.....NO! My shorts totally got caught in my saddle. The midwest humidity.....gahhh. The saddle is really supple because of too much sweat/humidity, and the increased friction caught my shorts on the sharp-edged SLR saddle. So bummed. The announcer said "we're gonna have to check the cameras on that one, too close to call!" That left me with a glimmer of hope...but nothing more. So with 8 to go, we continued. It was such a gentle pace, really a miracle that we had a gap. The leaders lapped the field, and the lead vehicle moved in front of us. 5, 4, 3, 2 to go...the bell lap came. BahatiBahatiBahati. Stay near him, and we're good. Did that, but got dicey in the finale and I finished 5th in the field sprint for 15th on the day. Swell. Happy that break stuck, and it honestly wasn't too taxing at all. Getting that feed was huge.

Rolled around, and saw a couple I met (hi) while staging. I told them about how bummed I was not to win that $200 prime...and they said "Guy, you won it. They called out your name and everything!" Ahhhhhhh man. Tooooo stoked. Made my night. That's 1/2 of what the Manhattan Beach purse would have been. Swell indeed. So nearly $300 on the day after stage money.

Day 2: Blue Island 100k

Merde, that's a long report for day one. This one will be shorter. Same Superweek scenesters. Drastically different course. Flaaat. Terrible pavement on the backside. Nice crowd, not like yesterday though. It didn't look like a good course for a breakaway. I decided to hang in the field, and go for the Sprint-Jersey Points. 50, 40, 30, 20 to go. 7-5-3-2-1. Didn't go too well, but I placed in 3 of them. Rock ran the show here, followed by the Jittery Joes guys, then me. I think I was 3rd, 4th-4th. Still though, sprinting those things helps you get a feel for the course, the sprint, and the corners. Anyhow, after a blazing pace throughout, 5 to go sounded. I was well. Really...the form is super. 3 to go, turn 1...things were a bit messy. The wheel I was following went into the corner way too hot and really jammmed the brakes. Two choices: 1-plow into him and crash, 2-do something else and don't crash. Of course, 2 just came instinctively. Everything that followed was done purely on reflex...but at the same time I was cognizant of the fact that a part of my brain I have no control over is controlling my movements for that split second. My left foot clipped out, clean. The rear wheel went into a controlled slide for a bit to the left and one pedal stroke later I clipped right back in and lost no position. Amazing save. Pat on the back, reflex systems. 2 to go. Great position. Bahati was right alongside me, with yellow jersey Sterling Magnell (bang up ride by this guy leading out Rasaan to the sprint primes each time...he's on good form) leading him. We were 10 wheels back, with Kelly-Benefits stringing it out a few wheels ahead. A group tried to swarm wide left after turn 2, but Kelly had the pace lined up pretty nice. Swell. Then, I found myself on Rasaan's wheel. Unchallenged. Really odd. People get shot in SoCal trying to get that spot. Two smooth corners later, we started sprinting. Rasaan's on it. He sprinted around the blob of people like they were standing still, and won it. I didn't sprint around as many and finished 5th...

Hot Damn. Hurt to miss the podium by 2 spots, but far and away my finest result out here. I'll get there.