Hopkins…us versus them (Lee Penn)
From: Lee Penn
Date: Jul 9, 2007 10:03 AM
i totally had a blast in this race - until the last 30 seconds that is….
let’s see - i rode to the race and was feeling really good. once i
got to downtown hopkins, i rolled about and spent some time chatting
it up with sara b… then went off to finish warming up. guess
what!?!?!?! got a flat about 2/3 mile from the crit spot. kind of
leaned heavy on my handlebars and rolled back to where sara b was
warming up. with about 13 minutes to go, i installed sara’s spare
wheel onto my bike. my family rolled up shortly thereafter. i got my
spare wheelset into the pit with my and sara’s numbers on the label.
managed to ride the course for ONE lap, during which i ate my gu and
after which i dropped a load of stuff from my pockets with my
sweetiepie. notable exception - my saddle bag - doh!!!!
i took third in each of hte three primes… maybe i would have done
better if i hadn’t had my 1.5 lb saddle bag attached! sheesh! i was
basically going for the primes in order to set up my mental game
etc… plus, being on the front is just better all around.
right - birchwood made the race super fun with periodic attacks. i
loved the pace and so on.
final lap. well, i ended up trapped by three b-wood riders - in
retrospect, had i been somehow marked? hmmm - maybe. anyway, i was
trying to get out, and ended up making the POOR decision of moving
BACK in order to escape. things were fine on the backside, and leading
into corner three, i had begun my move back towards the front. sadly,
i was very nearly taken out by a crazy cornering birchie (egads -
scary) - seriously super close to crashing. it took me about 50 feet
in order to regain adequate control of my bike, and that gapped me for
a go for the final sprint. man - what a bummer! sara was in a good
position, and i was getting into a good position… oh…. well,
there it is. the last 30 seconds of the race - i blew it! oh well.
all of my goals - with the exception of contesting that final sprint -
were achieved. i didn’t crash - i rode strong - sara and i did some
great work together - i stayed with the front for the vast majority of
the race - i had a most excellent time for the vast majority of the
race….
oh - to put the icing on the cake? cold front moved in about 3.2
seconds after our race was over. ha ha….
what happened with the 1,2,3s? did the race go on?
right - thanks for reading!
lee
ps - it’s been an interesting week for biking… wednesday - got a
flat in the race. friday - my son and i got thrown to the concrete by
a police officer during st. paul critical mass. sunday - flat before
race and near near near crash. well, these things come in THREES,
right? so…. watch out for me in either st. cloud or super week or
whatever race it is i manage next! oh yeah, and i’m getting a new
freakin’ tire!