Rest Day

On Tuesday we raced here in Cedarburg. Andrew woke up sick and decided to cut his superweek campaign short and flew back home the next day. You will be missed, Andrew. Steve hasn't been the same. Being able to roll to the end of the block to get to the race was a nice change. The course (on left) was pretty simple on paper but the first turn had a few wrecks before things got settled. I went down in one of them when I came around the corner and someone was going over the curb to the left. I stayed in my drops and just tried to make sense of the chaos. Suddenly, an opening in front of me was really two riders that I hit and fell right on top of. Very soft landing, but a bit awkward with the bodies and bikes tangled up with each other. I took my free lap and jumped back in. The second turn was also a dicey one cause the course would go from a wide boulevard to a narrow neighborhood road. Everyone would bottleneck. The next turn had an indented manhole right on the preferred line. You could go over it but risked broken carbon after several times. By about thirty laps in everyone knew what to expect, but at the start, everyone was still trying to establish order and these nuances to the course were like paying toll booths on the freeway.
I made it to the front several times past fifty laps in. At this point guys were making big efforts to get away. The front would string out during the chase and then like a snowball on impact, fragment in anticipation of another move. I tried my best to ride in the wake and not let any danger moves go. But they all seemed like danger moves to me! With about 15 to go I realized I would finish my first race in a while, a huge accomplishment for me. I hung on and got through the pain by reciting lyrics and telling myself I would do "just one more lap," thanks willis.
After the race I met the kid I fell on, Logan. I apologized for falling on him but told him it was a soft landing. He is 18 and just coming back from being sick all year. He is a little pudgy, but it was not my intention to point this out to him, but he did.

Whitnall Park Road Race
Held in the Boerner Botanical Gardens in Hales Corner, Carlos and I almost didn't make the start when I got us lost (Missing Andrew already for his integrated gps mentality). The excitement of the previous race kept me awake all night. Seriously, I guess I was so tweaked from the exercition, I finally stopped trying to sleep around 3am and just listened to music until the Alpe d Huez stage started. I got two hours of sleep (9-10 and 1130-1230) before the race. The temps were up, there was a power climb every two miles, and we arrived 30 minutes before the start, so I was not expecting to even finish. Before Andrew left, he had been performing like a 1st lieutenant for Carlos. In Cedarburg, Tyler assumed this role. In Hales Corner, after 8 of 27 laps it would be my turn. I chased, got into moves and initiated breaks. The field caught the break with six to go. I attacked with a rider from the colombian national team. We were caught and Carlos countered. Khala LaGrange organized a chase cause their rider is barely beating Carlos in the amateur points. They brought it back and up the hill with two to go I attacked again and got a gap. Rock Racing chased me down and then it was lights out. Carlos got fifth, moved up in the overall to maybe 7th and is looking set to win the best amateur.
I'm taking today off then racing the last three days of superweek.
I had a big cup of wine last night and then slept hard.