Picking it up - and honoring those who have rode before

Ok - I did it. I took out a second mortgage on my house and committed to Gateway - $159.25. Jesus. The money is gone and the incentive is there.

The week so far:

Monday - did a nice spin on Grant's Trail with Adam, Tom and ElCevano. I need to keep these restful days in my playbook to keep my legs loose - I often forget about these days. When we returned to The Hub, Ron was still there counting the money and trying to balance the books from the crit. After he forced a beer on me, and made me help him, the front window started to rattle - David Mark came flying in yelling that kids were on the roof. We ran out the back - and sure enough - kids running on the roof. Ron yelled at me (douche) to call 911 - Ron caught them and the cops came. Although no charges were pressed, the kids were shitting bricks!

Pause - A solemn moment to honor those who have rode before: the late Farrah Fawcett (is it cold in here?):

Tuesday Night Crit - I felt really good.
With about four laps into the race - I decided to take a flyer off the front - I blasted by Bill and took off - soon two other guys - Dog Fish and Big Shark - were with me on a three man break. We line up on the hill and each took turns pulling. It was freaking awesome. At one point we looked back and no pack! At one point we were over a half a lap! The first two laps off the front were great - The third one started to hurt - The fourth - fucking pain. Into the fifth lap, the group caught us - but we managed to hold them off for a good 10 min. I drifted to the back of the pack for some much needed rest - at one point I thought this might be the end - however - I got my wind back and started to move up. With three to go I Punched my move near the front and started to work. I was in the final sprint and finished good. Eric S. took fourth and I finished on Lendell's wheel with a sit down sprint. I felt great and worked my ass off. After a refreshing snowcone courtesy of the ICCC - we rode home.
Here is picture of Alice in the C race:

Pause - A solemn moment to honor those who have rode before: the late Michael Jackson (This is when he took the lead in the Gateway Cup race at Lafayette in 2006 - I crashed out in turn two):


Wed Night Throwdown. I was a little nervous about my performance after the Tuesday night effort - but after we got going my legs started to feel great. We had a flat right at Geyer and Manchester and we got to witness the collective minds of tire changing champions Ron (golden lever winner) and Mathew (probably won some shitty tire changing award in his day) change this tire in slow-mo Matrix time. After the brief pause, we were back on the rode. Felt strong the whole way, riding aggresive, and keeping in the front of the group. The only problem was when we hit Conway - I know your thinking, blown off the back - well oh contrare (say like an uppity french douche bag)- I pushed to front and found myself in the top three. The problem was the guy in front of me ran out of juice and pinched me inside while a group broke to the outside leaving me trapped and pushed to the back of the group. I felt strong and wanted to take the pull. It was nice to arrive at the light at Ballas with the group!



So far - my riding is picking up. I might even sign up for Chicago - I think I have the proper clearance!