August | 2010 | Steve Tilford

I thought that the three days that I had this week before Hotter’n Hell would be plenty to catch up with stuff. Boy, was I wrong. Not even close. It seems like I was on my feet 14 hours a day and still didn’t make a dent. The last two days I was replacing the AC in the van. I know why they charge so much now. That isn’t an easy job. It takes a ton of specialized tools and lots of contorting. The contorting wasn’t the bad part for my ribs. It is anytime I lay on something hard and flat. Seems like it is back to square one at that point. A doctor’s visit is at the top of my next week’s list.

It is only 425 miles to Wichita Falls, TX. It seems weird that 425 miles seems short, but it isn’t 6 hours. We’re not racing until 6:30 pm tonight. A criterium. Then a 100 mile road race at 7 am on Saturday and then another criterium on Sunday at noon. If I didn’t need to try to get some race fitness, I would be staying home and just riding. But, that isn’t an option at this point. There are over a 100 guys in the Pro 1/2 race, so there were be a lot of places to hide hopefully. Bill hasn’t raced since he crashed in Elk Grove nearly a month ago, so, I won’t be the most whinny guy on the trip.

Short update on today’s criterium results. In the woman’s race, Jennifer Purcell (Hotel San Jose) won the race handily.

There were 106 starters in the Pro 1/2 race. Figure 8 course. Mid 90’s, but super dry so it didn’t seem that hot. It was a pretty animated race. At one point, there was a group of 18 up the road, but that is too large of a group to stay working smoothly usually. Anyway, it was coming down to a field sprint. Hotel San Jose put their zillion riders at the front with 7 to go. Texas Metro lined it up and took over for a couple laps, but San Jose was back the last two laps. I was way, way too far back at that point. And it was going pretty good at the front. I made a couple huge moves on the last lap, but was still not in the right position with three corners to go. I was pretty gassed, but put it in my 11 and sprinted the last long straight. I passed a ton of guys and was diving through the inside of the 2nd to last corner when the leadout swung way too wide and there was carnage on the outside. I was on a super tight inside line, but had to scrub a ton of speed and ended up slogging to the line to finish 6th. Jason Wadell won. I think most of the San Jose guys fell, but I’m not sure who all was laying there.

We’re just heading to eat dinner. Tomorrow is a 6:45am start for the 100 mile road race. Maybe a nap will be on order tomorrow afternoon.

There are somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 bike riders here for the tour tomorrow. There isn’t a hotel room within a 100 mile radius of Wichita Falls. It was fun racing in front of such a knowledgable crowd.

Sent by iPhone.