Martes Noche Criterium - Cinco de Mayo

The rain held off and so the crit was on as usual. Today everything stayed together and it came down to a field sprint, which Shadd won. Some guys are heading down to Joe Martin and were not making any efforts. I made a few surges and on the last one ended up a bit off the front by myself. No one figured I was going anywhere so they let me ride out there for a few laps until about 4 laps to go. I just wanted to get a few efforts in before the Joe Martin Stage Race to hopefully be ready to ride hard on Thursday afternoon.

I don't have any delusions of grandeur for Joe Martin, especially in the Pro/1 category. I am just going down for the training and race miles. Hopefully, I won't embarrass myself too much. I'll be satisfied if I have a decent ride in the TT on Thursday, finish the 2 road stages in the group, and make it through Sunday. There's a decent chance I'll get dropped on Sunday, but who knows maybe I can just latch on to some wheels and stick in there.

Let's get this party started...Tues Night 4/29/2009

Just a quick post to start things off. Last night was the Tuesday night training criterium. It seemed like everyone was a little tired or unmotivated after a weekend of local racing. A break rolled fairly early and the group was not interested in chasing it down or riding particularly hard.

Luke Lininger, Bicycle Shack junior racer, continued his strong riding by getting in the break and pulling through strong throughout the race.

For my part, I didn't get to ride before the race because of work and just warmed up during the first 15 minutes or so. After that I made a few efforts here and there. In the end I led out Joe Schmalz on the last lap and it looked like he took the group sprint without much trouble.

I am fighting a few nagging aches and pains surely associated with pushing my aging body too much. My back has started bothering me the last couple of weeks, it was especially bad in the Hermann Road Race on April 19th.