Blocking

Last Wednesday Ali, her mom, Jappers, and I loaded up and headed into downtown STP to watch the Nature Valley Crit. We got there in time to see the last 5 laps of the womens race, and while it appeared a bit slower (I acknowledge that most of these women could probably drop me at will), it was much more exciting than the Mens race. Which consisted of United Healthcare riding tempo 8 deep at the front of the race for 40 laps. Good thing we brought beer, sourdough pizza, and a small child to entertain us.

I think thats J-Pows tring to get up the road with a break that never got more than 20 seconds.
On the upside I did get to catch up with fellow Man-hatian Dustin Nelson, who is at UMN working on his MS in Public Health.

Me explaining Crit racing to Dustin (I have no business talking about road racing)
Then on Thursday I headed over to River Falls, WI for the weekly Thursday night race. Its pretty low key. Pay $5 (if you are a KORC member), line up, and chase Chad Sova (and never catch) for 3 laps. I had a better race this round than the first time I showed up. I knew it was going to be kind of slick for the first few laps so I jumped early and managed to break away from the chasers, but still watch the leaders ride away. Once I hit the Upper part of the course I began to realize just how slick things were. This was compounded that I was on worn-out Maxxis Crossmarks, which are not a great mud tire to start with.
Let the drifting commence.
At the end of the first lap, I was in 4th, with a decent gap on 5th, but after a couple of "coming to Jesus" moments I was about ready to pullout, and probably would have, but I carried to much speed through the transition zone, and inadvertantly started another lap. Oh well.
Managed to hold on to 4th for the next 2 laps, so I was pleased with that, but it was definitely a harrowing race.

Saturday, Butchy and I rode in the rain for a few hours around town.

Conversational pace. Saw all the sights.