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Posted by Paul on Friday, April 30, 2004 at 9:22 PM

Wente Crit, April 25, 2004


Description:
Just over a 1 mile course. Not too technical except for one little right-then-left chicane that was a little tricky. The finishing straight was nice and long.

How It Went Down:
We had 5 of the Pegasus ladies show up: Rob, Patrick, Kevin, Kent ("K-Zo"), and me. Patrick just came off a grueling 6 weeks of golf cart intervals (drive the cart for a hole, ride shotgun for a hole, etc.). So he assured us he probably wouldn't be up for too much. We hadn't seen much of K-Zo, but he's familiar with the course and has had some good success here in the past. The plan was that I would shoot for something mid-late in the race, maybe go for some primes and then we would regroup in the last few laps to set up someone (probably not me) for the win.

The field size was about 80, and it was a little windy.

We started off easily enough. I settled in nicely as I got the feel for each of the corners. I saw Rob and Kevin at the front and decided to join them to see if maybe we could work out the secret Pegasus handshake. So then they announced a $10 prime. We decided to go for it.

I took point and bumped it up to around 30mph. Kevin was on my wheel and Rob was on his. Kevin asked me to ease up a bit - I guess I got a little too excited being at the front of the race. I towed the group for most of that whole lap and through the final turn. I think I was still doing 30+ when I yielded to Kevin with about 500 meters to go.

Kevin went another 300 meters and then Rob came around him and unleashed his wicked sprint that left his nearest competitors and the female spectators in the crowd breathless. He somehow managed to find the finish line despite being blinded by various women's undergarments thrown his way. I'm not sure, but I think even Jill may have even looked up from her book as he went by ..... but just for a second. As he crossed the line to easily take the prime, I heard Kevin exclaim "Fo shizzle, my bizzle". You know, Kevin's just like that.

So then another prime came up - a $50 Wente gift certificate. So Rob and I decided to go for it. Rob ramped it up for me this time, but I think we probably should have switched so that I could lead it out. Anyway, Rob drilled it as best he could, but we probably needed a third. He got me to about 500 meters when 2 guys jumped past. I caught their wheel, but just didn't have enough to get around. I think it was a pretty close race for second, but I wasn't close to getting the prime. Damn! That would have been a good one.

Then it was pretty quiet until the last few laps. Somewhere in there K-Zo clipped a pedal and hosed his wheel so he was out. With about 2 to go, I cut off Kevin in the finishing straight as I was trying to move up to Rob. Ooops! No worries - was just trying to rally the troops on my wheel. So with one to go, I thought I might have had Rob on my wheel and Kevin nearby as well. Things were getting dicey though, and I didn't really look back to see. Just before the first real turn there was a crash right off my back wheel. I wasn't sure if Rob was in it or not, but I kept going, basically riding for myself now.

I held my position ok and came to the last turn in the top 10-15. There was a nasty crash right as we started to wind up the sprint, I had to slow some and move right to avoid it. I sat up (shouldn't have) and cruised in for 20th. Rob was actually really close to me (ahead of me?) it turns out, but also had to slow and ended up 30th. Patrick was 41st I think, and Kevin for some reason isn't listed in the results.

All in all, a good ride for the team. We worked the prime to perfection. Rob was hardly challenged. Of course, it was only $10!!! But regardless, the teamwork is there. We just need to work on the finishing!

Avg speed: 27.4 mph
Avg HR: 166 bpm

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