Today made the heat last night seem tame. Actually, after the fact, it wasn’t as bad as it could of been looking at the numbers. Somewhere between 102-106 depending on who you believe. It was hot anyway you look at it.
The race today was a little under a 3 mile circuit that has a couple big hills in it. It’s a great course really. We planned to try to get as many of us up the road semi-early before/when everyone else fell apart. I got away early and then was joined by Bill a lap later. 2 our of 5 was good. The next lap, Nolan Froese, junior, fell in the U turn and split us up abit. Nolan was riding great the whole weekend and has matured a ton as a rider. Brian said on the radio that he was coming up. He was alone then, but by the time he got up to us they were a lot of guys including the bleeding Nolan. People kept coming up until there was a big group of 15 or so.
By then everyone was really hot. I got away a few times, Bill rode a couple laps alone, but about half way through it split up pretty good. I got away with Alex Welch from Mercy and then Brian bridged up on the hill. He pulled the better portion of a half a lap, but we got caught by the remainder of the victims. I sat up immediately on the next corner and Brian road way for good. Alex Welch put it the best. “He’s gonna win anyway, we should just let him go.” And that is what they did.
The next lap got a little more animated. I ended up in a 4 rider group of a couple Big Shark guys, Mark Southard, Jeff Hartman, plus Alex Welch. We were all falling apart and Brian was riding 20 seconds or so a lap faster. I fell apart faster than the others. Within one lap I went from feeling pretty good to losing everything I drank (plus some) everytime I tried to drink. It got ugly quick. I sat up with 4 laps to go. Rode another lap as slow as I could go so I didn’t seize up when I stopped and called it a day.
I have some issues going right now, but I do know that I don’t deal with heat like I used to. I’m not sure what is up with that, but it’s a fact.
Anyway, Brian went on to win for the second day in a row by nearly 3 minutes. Bill dragged in around 12th or so. It was a tough guys race. There was no faking it here.
Tomorrow is another criterium. 75 minutes. Should be just as painful as the previous two days I imagine. Maybe not. There is always something to look forward to.
