After a week of racing superweek races it was time to head down to Chicago for one of the big money races of the year. With a full week of 100k crits in the legs, and not much rest from the night of racing before (we got home (actually Bob's house, but it's like home) at 1o, then had to eat and prepare for tomorrow, then leave 7.30am for the cat 3 race), it was going to be a hard race. Add to that the large amount of money on the line for the top 25, as well as big primes and a field size of 186, it looked like it was going to be an intense day. It was, however, quite the opposite. With wide sweeping corners on a short, flat circuit, it surprised me how easy it was to just sit on near the back. Getting to the last 15 laps of 46, I decided it would probably be a good time to start moving up. This turned out to be a lot harder. With such wide roads and a slow pace, the peloton resembled more of a big blob, with riders just moving back and forth much quicker than any other race. Still, I kept trying to move up. At least until we crossed the line with 5 to go. With the wind coming in from the right, I was moving up on the left, and hit a rather deep manhole, blowing out my rear wheel. Damn it.
That left me with no free lap, and no race left. Just four laps left for Brad Huff from Jelly Belly to drop everyone else and reach the finish ahead of Hilton Clarke.
It wasn't the end of the mediocre day there though. This was then followed by a horrible 13 hour drive back the Richmond. We left Chicago a 5 pm and still couldn't beat the morning rush hour in DC. How early do you have to leave these days? At least I found the love of my life on the way home. I wasn't actually looking for her, but she fell into my arms at Dairy Queen. [ed. I've since found out she isn't the love of my life, damn it].
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