Superweek Starts!

The International Cycling Class (aka Superweek) started today in Blue Island, IL - about a 15min drive from my parents' house - I was totally stoked to be racing in the 'hood! I had a great night's sleep at Mom and Dad's place and a low-key morning of an easy ride, a bit of reading (with feet up) and good old mac and cheese for a pre-race lunch. The weather was perfect albeit a little windy and my warm-up was great so I was confident that it would be a good day on the bike.

We had 40 laps to do on a 1 mile course - pretty long for a criterium but Superweek races tend to be a bit on the long side. Things got started pretty fast with lots of manhole dodging and twitchy turns that led to the first crash about 3 laps in(yes, I was in it...). I went over to the wheel pit and got put back in without event, except for the growing bruise on my left ankle. My plan was to basically stay protected and out of the wind since I didn't have any teammates in the race (Karen was there but admitted that she was racing to survive today, and not to expect much from her). I kept an eye on the Cheerwine, Aaron's, HUB, XPLANE.com and two east coast teams that had at least 3 riders in the group. There were some attacks and small breaks throughout but nothing stuck. At about the halfway mark there was another ridiculous crash that took me down yet again - another visit to the wheel pit and another uneventful return to action. Things started picking up with about 4 laps to go. I made sure that I was near the front and continued to watch the sprinters and their teams, looking to jump into their leadout trains for some help to the line. Coming out of the last turn I moved up and sprinted with everything I had - passing a bunch of riders along the way and finishing 5th behind some heavy hitters from Cheerwine, Aaron's and HUB.

It felt great to stand on the podium with Mom and Dad there - they don't often get the chance to see me race so this was a very special thing for me. I gave my flowers to my Mom and we all ended a most excellent day with some pizza and pepsi's in the shade.

Next up: Bensenville tomorrow....icing the war wounds tonight and an easy morning ride before going back to battle.....