I wrote a post a couple years ago about why there aren’t any bike races on Easter Sunday. Today I get to race a criterium in Garland. And today was Amstel Gold. (Man, Gilbert has that finish down.) I’m a little short of time today. I’m going to ride the 30 miles over to the race. Yesteday I only got in 7 miles of riding before the start and after a 3 hour drive and I was stale, not feeling good to about 5 laps to go, which was good.

Yesterday the race was hard. It is really pretty much a parking lot criterium. Not a typical parking lot crit, the whole course lined with cones, but a partial. And it was windy, so you tended to be hugging the edges more than was comfortable.

I’ll do a play by play tommorrow, since I’m late, but the race was pretty hard and it all split up the last 20 minutes. I can sense that it was going to explode, so I stayed near the front. Bill and I both made the front group of 12 or so, but a few more guys caught on when we started dicking around.

It came down to a field sprint of maybe 20 guys. It was a good finish for me, but I really didn’t ride it properly and didn’t have the kick at the end. I ended up 5th, a few bikes lengths back. Bret Crosby won. I gave up a little too early or maybe could have finished a place better. Whatever, I’m good with it. I really need the speed work. I am really under raced and need to get some top end, which I was lacking the first hour of the race yesterday.

We’re racing and then driving the 500 miles back home tonight. The last time I did that drive, I totalled Isuzu, so I hope to have a pretty day than that.

Okay, we’re staying down by Whiterock Lake with some old friends from Topeka. It is great. I’ll post more tomorrow.

A small group of 5 of us separated on the last small hill during the sprint.

Results.

The race was pretty strung out the whole day.

These are a couple friends that has relocated to the Dallas area. Rod Lake on the left and Mark Winkleman and his wife on the right. It was nice catching up. I stayed with Rod and went by Mark’s house to check out his bike, and car, collect. It deserves its own post.

This is Charlene Lake. She out did herself last night and this morning, foodwise. Plus, her wine pour is more of a cascade. I had to talk a night time walk last night.

Breakfast this morning. I wanted to sleep in, but the smells were too good.

Yesterday was the 2nd day of the Matrix Challenge. It was held on the same course in Garland, but they switched it up some and made the course even more technical. The longest straight was the start/finish line, which was maybe 150 meters long and other than that, it was very twisty.

Bill and I rode to the race from White Rock Lake. It was only 15 miles, which was shorter than we’d anticipated, so we got there way early. It was pretty hot when the sun came out, but clouds were moving in, so heat really wasn’t an issue.

I felt much better yesterday than I did on Saturday. It was really windy, so the race was continually breaking up. I was trying to hover near the front of the race, but like bike racing goes, sometimes got rotated back. The problem, or a by-product of a parking lot type criterium is that the field tends to be single file a lot more than with a more regular criterium. There is always a short aspect to a corner and the led rider tends to take the shortest line, so the field tends to be really strung out. The wind just added to this.

Anyway, eventually 4 guys rolled away. Stefan Rothe is never happy not hammering off the front, so he was there, of course. Bret Crosby bridged up by himself, so the break was dangerous because Michael Sheehan, from Boneshaker was already there. I knew that Heath Blackgrove wouldn’t be happy with the mix, so I assumed he’d be launching up there. But, I missed it. Stupid Steve. When I was flailing around in front of the field, Tristan Uhl came blowing by and I missed him too. That was it, 6 guys and no one left to chase. I was in a small group of 5, but we were losing ground. Eventually we were reabsorbed by the remainder of the field.

The break just hovered ahead, but their lead was secured. Bill got in a small move with 4 laps to go, but they never really got too far ahead of us. With just 1/4 lap to go, Jason Wadell jumped and I chased. We caught the back of Bill’s group right at the last corner. Jason got past a few guys, but I started at the back. So, Bill finished 11th and I finished 12th, the last two paying places. A little consolation.

I finished much worse than I felt, but that happens all the time in bike racing. The day before, I finished better than I felt, so it’s probably a wash. I am glad that I have some sort of form. I was a little worried I was in a real funk. Now I just think it is a partial slump.

We went by Sue’s mom’s house in Richardson and showered and then started the 500 mile drive back home. Within 30 minutes we were in a heavy thunderstorm with an inch of standing water on the interstate. So, we drove about 60 miles during the first 2 hours. That made us get back closer to 1am than 11pm.

I’m not sure what I’m doing this week. Brian can’t race Joe Martin, so I can’t do the Pro race there. I might do the 1/2 race or maybe go to Hillsboro or maybe even Iowa City. I heard that Hillsboro only had 18 guys preregisterd in the Pro 1/2 race there. 4 women. The field used to fill at 125. Man, our sport knows how to shoot itself in the foot continually. Why can’t they get some sort of scheduling figured out?

Okay, I’m going to try to catch up on sleep some now.

Bill was always following me around yesterday. He did beat me by .02 seconds. Team bragging rights.

Results. Click to enlarge.

Jimmy Hoyt, czar of Richardson BikeMart. He doesn’t just sit around at the events his guys promote. He gets down and dirty.

We had to drive through this for the first two hours. Lots of back up and road construction too.

Trudi and Bromont aren’t short of sleep today. They slept most of the way back to Topeka.