Tilles Park

Quick update:
I did the Tilles Park Crit today (Saturday) my first race for the season. I had one goal: keep the bike upright.

I like easy goals.

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It was ugly and cold most of the day which can be a little disheartening. But Richard loaned me his extra gloves so I stayed pretty warm. He also talked me into doing an extra race, so I started at 11am with the Cat 3/4's. I'm a new 4, and I've only ridden my bike about 6 times since last October, so I figured I'd get spit out the back pretty quickly. But thankfully nobody seemed in too big of a hurry.

I didn't feel comfortable in the middle of the peleton, so I just moved into the rear and hung out -- out of the wind and everybody else's way. Unfortunately, about halfway through the race a Big Shark dude went down in front of me. He went one way, and his bike went the other. I was able to stop just before hitting his bike. But then then I was still stuck in my high gear, and by the time I got going, the peleton had gotten about a quarter-mile away. I chased for awhile, but wasn't able to push past the wind and catch them again. After a couple of laps I was spent, so I pulled out.

The afternoon 4/5 race went pretty well. Was really squirrly, as most 5 races are. Some dude ate it in the first ten minutes. Who knows. I snuck past him nicely though. This time
I raced harder, and even went off the front a little. But I still almost got stuck in another wreck when the same dude locked up his brakes and started to go sideways (don't ask me how I ended up behind him again). I had a brief sideways moment as well, but we all got it straightened out and kept racing. When the peleton surged for the last lap, my legs cramped and refused to go faster. Rather than be in the other guys way, I pulled out. There's no reason to be endangering the other riders on the final sprint when I know I am out of contention like that.

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So a good race. A lot of prayer before the races, and I'm quite thankful that the traveling and racing both went great. Now if I can only get in shape...
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And we danced on into the night
- Chad Kroeger
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