Race weekend: Tour of St. Louis... w/ tornado sirens

Hey Everybody.

It was a great weekend. In the words of Zach Galifianakis i might even say... 'That was so ravin.'

First, music

• Crystal Castles - 'Celestica'

So... Went to St. Louis to race bicycles / got hooked up with a free place to stay (thanks!) / the racing started Saturday morning / it was on like Donkey Kong.

Saturday we had both a circuit race and a time trial. First off i got to watch X race in the women's open. She did well in the sprint finish and even won a little cash. Next it was my turn... the race started out great, i was in the group with about 3 laps to go, then suddenly two guys in front of me tangled and both went down. i slammed both brakes and skidded to almost a complete stop before i hit 'em, then i fell over. No damage done. i was immediately back up and on my bike chasing after the pack. i never came close to catching them. So i finished in pretty much last place... but i was having fun and feeling good before that crash.



Later that day was the time trial. Let me tell you something, weather can change dramatically over the course of a day. it was finE in the morning but that was not the case in the afternoon. Was the weather for the time trial epic... Ill just say this, they had to halt the tt mid race due to lightning, hail, and tornado warnings. the riders said they could hear tornado sirens while out on the course. And I'm sure for part of it they had an incredible tail wind. Me? i wouldn't know, we got there and i took one look at the weather and said 'f that.' i spectated. it was awesome. Thousands of people in St Louis ended up losing power due to that storm. Mother nature is a bad mama jamma,

Bodie was the dog, he was cool. You know what else was cool? The Tomtom GPS unit. i'd never used a GPS gizmo before but after that trip i cant imagine going anywhere without one. First spell check, now the Tomtom, soon we won't even have to leave our home's.

Sunday (today)... today we had a crit near downtown St. Louis. Once again X raced first, she was going well but couldn't overcome the race tactics after a 3 woman break went up the road. After that i did a quick warm up and then it was go time... my race was fun. No crashing and i finished in the second group, not too far from the first group. We even had a nice bunch sprint for the line which i participated in. i was pretty much the last of that bunch to cross the line but it was great that at the end i still had enough juice to get out of the saddle and give it one last hard effort.

This whole bike racing thing is becoming more and more fun.

Ciao