NOTE TO BIKERDUDE/JERK-O WHO MADE A FALSE COMMENT-SEE MY RESPONSE BELOW. WANNA TALK ABOUT IT? BRING IT ON. YOU AIN'T GONNA WIN.
I liked the previous post so much that I contemplated making it my final post and shutting down the blog. Then I remembered that I needed a forum to blast the Chicago PD and to occasionally blow off some steam, so the blog lives. Today's target of my scorn is the no-name creep-o masters racer with hairy legs who outweighs me by 100lb and insists on pinching me into the corners of a crit - so the story begins....
Yesterday was a perfect day for racing - high in the low to mid 80s, no clouds in the sky and a bit of wind to make things interesting. I rolled with MetLifeGuy and Ansgar to Wooddale for the ABR Illinois State criterium championship - held in an office park. The course was short (maybe 1K?) and smooth with a slight downhill curve on one side and slight uphill between the last two turns. I did the 40+ masters race because those "old" boys are all pretty darn fast - and most of them are decent bike handlers which typically makes for fast and mostly safe racing.
I was representing for MetLife/Pony Shop and had no expectation for myself other than to be aggressive, race hard and try to get one of my teammates into a break. On the line along with me were Tom, Dave, Mike, Ansgar and Dan - all of them strong enough and capable of winning. Things got off to a decent start with a few short-lived attacks and counter-attacks though nothing early stuck. I even got in on the action a couple of times, just for kicks and to hear Kenny Labbe call my name as we crossed the start/finish.
There were a few close calls with twitchy dorks doing stupid things (like the Team Mack dweeb I mentioned above) but fortunately we all stayed upright. At about the halfway point a small break got away that included Dave so I saw it as my job from that point on to sort of just cover things that went off the front and wait for the last lap to come. When we heard the one-to-go bell I moved to the front (THE FRONT OF THE FIELD BIKERDUDE/JERK-O, NOT THE BREAK - PITY. FUNNY HOW NO ONE ELSE THERE DISPUTES MY RECOLLECTION BECAUSE THAT'S HOW IT HAPPENED - YOU MUST'VE BEEN IN/OFF THE BACK. SO GET A LIFE) and drove the pace for about 1/2 a lap then pulled off to let the field sprint go - I had no desire to get mixed up with a bunch of guys much bigger than me doing stupid things. Sure enough, someone bit it hard coming out of the last turn so I just sort of avoided the pile-up and rolled to the line for a field finish.
Bottom line - it was a most excellent day of racing for a few reasons: June and Hank came out of racing hibernation to throw down - it was so great to see them again. I was feeling really good and got a solid crit in my legs before Superweek starts next week. Post-crash MetLifeGuy returned to criterium racing with a respectable effort. MetLife/Pony Shop put (I think) 3 guys in the top 10 - I'd say that's a pretty good day.
I liked the previous post so much that I contemplated making it my final post and shutting down the blog. Then I remembered that I needed a forum to blast the Chicago PD and to occasionally blow off some steam, so the blog lives. Today's target of my scorn is the no-name creep-o masters racer with hairy legs who outweighs me by 100lb and insists on pinching me into the corners of a crit - so the story begins....
Yesterday was a perfect day for racing - high in the low to mid 80s, no clouds in the sky and a bit of wind to make things interesting. I rolled with MetLifeGuy and Ansgar to Wooddale for the ABR Illinois State criterium championship - held in an office park. The course was short (maybe 1K?) and smooth with a slight downhill curve on one side and slight uphill between the last two turns. I did the 40+ masters race because those "old" boys are all pretty darn fast - and most of them are decent bike handlers which typically makes for fast and mostly safe racing.
I was representing for MetLife/Pony Shop and had no expectation for myself other than to be aggressive, race hard and try to get one of my teammates into a break. On the line along with me were Tom, Dave, Mike, Ansgar and Dan - all of them strong enough and capable of winning. Things got off to a decent start with a few short-lived attacks and counter-attacks though nothing early stuck. I even got in on the action a couple of times, just for kicks and to hear Kenny Labbe call my name as we crossed the start/finish.
There were a few close calls with twitchy dorks doing stupid things (like the Team Mack dweeb I mentioned above) but fortunately we all stayed upright. At about the halfway point a small break got away that included Dave so I saw it as my job from that point on to sort of just cover things that went off the front and wait for the last lap to come. When we heard the one-to-go bell I moved to the front (THE FRONT OF THE FIELD BIKERDUDE/JERK-O, NOT THE BREAK - PITY. FUNNY HOW NO ONE ELSE THERE DISPUTES MY RECOLLECTION BECAUSE THAT'S HOW IT HAPPENED - YOU MUST'VE BEEN IN/OFF THE BACK. SO GET A LIFE) and drove the pace for about 1/2 a lap then pulled off to let the field sprint go - I had no desire to get mixed up with a bunch of guys much bigger than me doing stupid things. Sure enough, someone bit it hard coming out of the last turn so I just sort of avoided the pile-up and rolled to the line for a field finish.
Bottom line - it was a most excellent day of racing for a few reasons: June and Hank came out of racing hibernation to throw down - it was so great to see them again. I was feeling really good and got a solid crit in my legs before Superweek starts next week. Post-crash MetLifeGuy returned to criterium racing with a respectable effort. MetLife/Pony Shop put (I think) 3 guys in the top 10 - I'd say that's a pretty good day.
