Bowie

Class guy, David. He's been in my head for days. Perhaps it's the rain. I'll hear a chord or two from other songs and think, "hey, there's a bowie song that has that..." Every song has that. But Bowie's been flowing out my brain. No complaints here. Put your raygun to this blog entry yeah. First off, head over to brentbookwalter.blogspot.com . Brent is just a kid from the Big Mitt who's down racing the Tour of Qatar. Better blog entries i've never come across.

I've been a bum this week. I tried to do a threshold test on wednesday. Lasted 8 minutes (of 20), turned home, and felt like shite the rest of the day, and today. Unlucky...so i'm just taking it easy for a bit. The rain definitely helps with the laziness. I'm not racing Boulevard, nor the crit the next day. Going CBR. Slump breaker I hope. And finally, your hasty SUPER late race report:

Poor College Kids RR


Vintage! But I look exactly the same in both, somehow. Even in the same position relative to the race (first -or almost first- in the second group). Tip of the hat to the photographer (Goodman Graphic) of the second one for bringing out the "former soviet bloc crusher" look in me. The race! It was a positive one, even though the legs and the composition of the field made it seem like it wouldn't be so. To start, PLENTY of Team Type 1 guys, and a smattering of ProTour guys (allright, just 3), and most all the local scenesters. Nice field. $25 entry, $250 purse. Beautiful course (reminded me of the theme to Huel Howser's Show)...and the kicker? 80 degrees, no wind. Perfect.

We lined up. Right on time, 11am start. A small group got off, and got a gap. We were going 6mph, so no big deal. I vaguely remembered the course from the time I did it years ago (the above photo...I think I was a cat 4?). One hill, out and back course, so that same hill, twice. Things got shuffled on the first ascent (which is more mellow than the return trip), and a group containing a ton of Team Type 1 guys was gone. Plenty of favorites still in the peleton, though, and I felt fine. So on the return, I was right up front. I knew something would go. Sergio Hernandez hit it hard, with C-Walk in tow. The race was happening right in front of me, but I didn't change my rythm. Should have...but I was already red lined, and didn't want to risk complete collapse. Dumb strategy, ah well.

So of course, the race was done. 17 or so up the road. 10 of them from the same team. Slightly hurt peleton behind. Last climb of the day, I went up to my old teammate John McKeen. "It'll go at the climb, a little group will get away. My legs are shite, but if you got it, get to the front and go to town." He uttered a "yeah right" after I'd said I don't have the legs. And......yeah. I made the little front group along with John. I HATE those guys. The guys that lay out the verbal "safety nets" before and during races. Really, i'm not one of them usually, so John, i'm sorry for being a tool. So...about 8 of us crested the top. I knew I could outsprint everyone in this group, though Rudy (formerly of Rock) might have been even money against me. Minor placings, but hey, it's a sprint. After a couple kilometers of what was probably the worst paceline ever, the 1k to go sounded. I was last wheel in the break, focusing on Rudy....and the yellow line that meant instant DQ. Two guys jumped with something like 800 meters to go. Blah. I reacted slowly, and brought them back. Rudy was to my left...At 200 I started the sprint, basically on the yellow line, so he had to pass around and to the right to get it. I took that side of the sprint, but totally lost sight of another guy with legs to my right, and he took it. Ironically, Rudy was DQ'd for yellow line violation...gah. 18th on the day. That's the dull late race report.


And on a final note, i'd like to say that though 18th ain't that swell, i'm secretly very happy to have finished in front of every rider on that "team from the west side with the french-sounding name". I wasn't mal-treated in any way, and am friends with most of the riders on the team, but....you know how it is. I plan on doing this in every race. Just a touch of motivation...