Perry Dam #2

It was 45 degrees and lots of rain. There wasn't as many racers this time. Only 5 of us lined up to do the shorter race, only 30 miles. The 2nd lap was the prime lap. We all road pretty good together, then Ben attacked the turn before the climb. I got on Kents wheel who chased him down, finally passing him with 200meters to go. I started my move around kent at 50 meters, but never got there, maybe had I shaved my head I would have won it. After that lap I told Kent how much I enjoyed racing against Ben Stover. He's always attacking, and when he does, they are the kind of "oh shit" he's really going type of attacks. The 3rd time up the hill we were still all together so I dropped it into the small ring and road hard up to the top. Towards the top, Ben went again, really hard, this time with Kent and this man, Brian West, going with him. I had a sort of lazy moment where I said to my self I could catch them by the bottom of the hill. They thrashed all the way down the hill and across the dam, perfect 3 man break away. At the bottom was me and Funk were starting our chase when he quit pedaling, he may have flatted, or just didn't want to spin his Junior gears at 35mph across the dam, it took me a few seconds to get around and when I finally looked up, I could barely see who was who, they were up the road. We had 3.5 laps to go, about 18 miles left. I was in my 50/11 riding out of the saddle for 2.5 laps. With 1/2 lap to go, I finally made contact, I averaged 24mph by myself for 13 miles. They seemed to be riding well together. There were 4 of us, and no one was chasing, everyone was on cruise control and I actually felt like I had legs to attacked. At this point, we were all frozen good, none of us could shift good and our shoes/socks were a wet mess. On the tough road before the climb Brian West attacked, I jumped with him, after a bit Kent and Ben caught us and I actually felt like I had a chance to win, then Ben went. I started the chase, I went as hard as I could and half way up I cracked. I shifted it down and spun up to finish 3rd. Ben did the same to get 2nd, cracking at 50 meters left or so, a case where had I jumped out of the saddle and put myself through some real pain to stay on Kent's wheel would have led me to 2nd...but 3rd was what I deserved.




I road over 90 miles today. Got plenty of vitamin D. 75 and windy. At mile 55 I was cracked good. Guess eating half a bagel and a liter of coffee wasn't enough food. One of those deals where your mother in law shows up to baby sit the kids and says, "go ride your bike." Stuff I pray for every night.