Tulsa Tough: Riverview Crit

With all of the turmoil outside the racing part of the weekend I forgot to mention that we actually had a pretty good time. Friday night Mathgeek and I got a bit of solo time without the boys and went down and watched the rest of the Mercy crew in the Pro-1 race. That's a first since....well, before the boys. In fact, since Jobro and Curly were worn out on Saturday night we went out and watched the Pro race that night as well. Saturday Mathgeek and the boys went and checked out the Tulsa aquarium before my race and said it was really cool.

Matheek and they boys enjoying downtown before it got hot. Breakfast at the Blue Dome Cafe was great and only a few blocks from the hotel.

Mathgeek wants to dress up like this next Halloween. If you see any video from Cry Baby hill you will probably see a really drunk jellyfish dancing in the street.

The Mercy Team compound during Saturdays race. This was during the Cat1-2 race when some huge raindrops began falling and road got really slick.

Jobro gave photography a try during the Riverview crit and did a really good job. Pretty impressive for a 12 yr old with a point and shoot camera.

Just about forgot to write about the race. Sunday I did the Masters race so we could get a early jump on getting home. The Riverview course sits by the river and has a pretty significant climb in it followed by an equally significant downhill on the other end. Usually this would be a pretty good course for me but after being sick and off the bike for a good part of 3 weeks I wasn't so sure I had much left on the 3rd day of racing. My plan was to be aggressive early and try to force a split that left most of the 50+ guys behind. It nearly worked, I got the split but a few laps later it all came back together. After a number of attacks and counter attacks we were still together and I was pretty gassed. Just when I slipped back a little bit in the field Will Gault from Tulsa Tough rolled off the front of the group never to be seen again. On the last lap I was pretty far back in the group but managed a sneak attack before the downhill to get in front of the group for the sprint. In the end there was Will and 4 others in front of the group and I was sprinting for 6th. I had a decent sprint but just got pipped at the line by 2 other guys and ended up 8th. In this race there is an additional prize list for the 50+ so I was 2nd there.  So not too bad of a weekend!

I shot this during the Cat1-2 race on Cry Baby hill. Check out Jason blasting by right in front of me.

Time for a bit of a rest before Tour of KC.