Gateway: The Giro

Serious business at the start today, check out those faces as we wait for the starters whistle in the Pro 1-2 race. Today was another double up day for me, Masters and then the Pro 1-2. The Giro course is a long rectangle with a uphill on the backside and a downhill to the finish. A major factor in the race was going to be the stiff headwind on the backstretch and going up the hill. In the Masters race the pace was pretty fast from the gun but then a few laps into the race there was a crash and the race was stopped to get an ambulance on the course. After the delay they shortened the race but the crashes continued. It seemed that there were people coming out of the wheel pit every lap but the crashes were all behind me. In the end the sprint started up the hill on the backside and I thought I was sitting behind a strong sprinter. I recognised the guy as a previous winner in the 3's race but 50yards from the line he quit pedaling. I had to jump again to get going and in the process got passed by 4 guys before we hit the line. 7th, still not bad but for the 2nd day hesitating for a split second cost me some places. Still, I can't complain, 7th out of 104 isn't so bad.














The kids races here are huge! Pretty cool to see so many kids on bikes and having a good time.























Here's the view on the back side of the course. What you are seeing is the Pro 1-2 field strung out, single file, like it was for most of the night. I started out near the front of the field and hung out near the front for the first 1/3 of the race. I was feeling pretty good and the pace was really fast. After a while I started to get tired and tried to conserve energy and stop fighting for position. The problem with going further back in the field is that it just gets harder and harder to stay with the group. To say that the race was fast is a bit of an understatement, on the tailwind side I was spun out in a 12 going 40+ mph and at least 30 to 35 on the backside going into the wind. Bottom line is that it was really hard to recover at any point in the race. I really don't have any idea where I finished, somewhere 2/3's of the way back, but it really doesn't matter. The Pro 1-2 races are giving me a killer workout to get me ready for cross.

So today is the last day of the Gateway Cup, a 1.75 mile circuit race. I decided yesterday to only do the Pro 1-2 race and see what happens. My legs are tired but I guess everybody else is as well. As a side note I guess I have the distinction of being the oldest guy in the Pro 1-2 race per the race announcers. Not sure if that's good or bad but I do know that Tilford is about the same age and he's top 10 everyday. We are also in the same age group in cross so it gives me a ton of motivation to do these races and bump up my fitness.

Today is going to be interesting, more wind on a longer circuit, we shall see.....