2nd place!! again...

Last weekend I traveled down to Louisville to compete in the Master 30-34 National Criterium Championship. Tara joined me and we made a nice little weekend out of it. I also got to catch up with a ton of old friends which is always nice.

This was a bit of a last second thing for me so I needed to get down there and register the night before. USA Cycling decided it was so hard to do race day registration that they doubled the entry fee. Not to mention that it is ridiculous to begin with that the entry was $65 and no prize money.. Yep, they charged me $130 to register... If anyone can come up with a good reason for doubling an already ridiculous entry fee I would love to hear it.

Anyway, onto the race... It was 66 laps of fun on a quick little course at Churchill Downs. Same course as last year so I was looking forward to it. The weather turned crap the morning of and by the time I raced it was pouring down rain. The interesting part was I was riding some prototype Kenda's and I had never ridden them in the rain. Of course I had complete faith in them but I needed some piece of mind so I found a nice neighborhood and bombed some corners to get a feel for them.. figured it was better to crash before the race then in it.. But of course the tires were better then I thought and I was basically glued to the road.

So the race started super fast as a handful of us were drilling it at the front trying to get rid of the dead weight. A few breaks went here and there and I was having to do a lot more work than I was hoping but no big deal. Pretty hard race and everyone road super aggressive but in the end it came down to about 10 of us. I sat 2nd wheel for most of the last 10 laps and reacted to every attack. With 1 to go I was still 2nd wheel and on the backstretch a guy jumped from behind. Was straight onto him and exactly where I wanted to be. Through turn 3 and into the last turn the guy decides to pussy foot around the corner and in my head I'm thinking if someone has a run on us I'm in trouble. Sure enough the masters world TT champ who had been ripping my legs off all night got a run on us. He went right and I went left and with only 150 meters to go I closed the gap to him but didn't get around him. They gave us the same exact time and went to the film and he had won it by inches. Never did get to see the tape but def would like to see how close it was.

All in all it was a good race and the fitness is on the rise for the rest of the season. That's 3 silver medals at National Championships now... What do I need to take it up a notch?? Back to the drawing board, coach and I will find it... I"m sure of that.

Good little stage race this weekend that I am using for training so that should be a fun one. 2 crits and a road race. I will keep you updated.

And thanks for all the notes on my 2nd. Its a tough one but you guys all make it a bit easier with your kind words....

much love
m@