Millport Race Recap.

Rain, Lightning, Thunder and a Tornado warning were the highlights of the Cat 4/5 Millport Road Race for me today. First they shortened the race from 9 to 8 laps, I think, then stopped the race midway due to a Tornado Warning in the area. The rain was going sideways so two of my teammates decided to head for home.

I was about to leave when a race official came by the car and said we'd be restarting in 30 minutes. I quickly text messaged my teammates to get their asses back to no avail. Restarting! These old bones of mine don't like restarting, but I went and changed back into my grungy and soaking wet kit and got back to the starting line.

Now, about half the field of over sixty had gone home, so I got a good spot at the front of the line. Well now the organizer says we are going to race for 2 laps. A Sprint! This is so not me, this course is almost flat, perfect roads, wet, with two tiny hills. It's definitely a sprinters course. The first lap was kinda slow, Good Thing for me! But that didn't last. It got freaking fast on the second lap. I wanted to stay in the front for when it happened. Sure enough, on a corner, three guys got a gap on 5 of us. The rest of the field totally blew apart behind us. On the false flat in the back of the course we just couldn't reel them in. It was a brilliant move on their part and not such a good move on ours but that's racing.

The gap stayed at about 5 seconds to the finish. I started my sprint too early and got edged out by inches at the line by a Squadra Coppi guy and a well timed bike throw by a Dutch Wheelman. 6th place for me. I got a sound thrashing by my wife and daughter at the finish for seemingly giving up before the finish line. Oh well.

Side Note: AMB Timing was there with a fork mounted timing system. They worked flawlessly, our results were at the finish line within a few minutes, at most. I know some guy that these would've been great for at RFK and the Kelly Cup.

Cool Stuff.

The images released this week of that previously unknown tribe got me thinking. Yeah, I know,... don't go there.

1. Chances are, they knew about us or saw us even though we didn't know about them. Planes fly over pretty much everywhere, the rainforest, and yes even places like Kansas.

2. They value their way of life and society enough to defend it, with Bows and Spears if necessary. Both highly lethal weapons I might add.

3. Is their way of life worth protecting?

4. Is our own way of life. family if you will, worth protecting? Will we defend it when we have to?

5. Is it human nature to want to protect your way of life. They haven't been "Corrupted" by the rest of us yet seemingly would try.

6. Bright Red Paint on the Men, Black on the Woman. What does that say about us exactly?

7. Topless Native Women will ALWAYS be in fashion.

OR, they're just hungry and want to gig the giant bird flying overhead.

Tour de What?

The Giro is proving it will be THE Grand Tour of 2008. Hold on to your cheesy exoskeleton bicycle helmets. It should be interesting. Oh yeah, Vasili Kiryienka from Tinkoff "Slipped" get it, Vasili Vaseline, Slipped? Oh shut up John! slipped his way up the road to take today's stage win.

WOW!

That's about all there is to say about Jens Voigt's Stage win today at the Giro. THAT is the way to win a bicycle race!

Why Race?

I was just sitting here having my coffee and that age-old question popped up in my head? Why do I race? OK, the thought didn't come outta nowhere. You see, the last few nights I've been reading The Rider, by Tim Krabbe. So far, I would say it's the best book on actual bicycle racing I've found. It would be a great book for any racer to read, and for bike widows in particular. I dunno if a non-racer can appreciate it, but it's definitely a look inside the mind of a bicycle racer, of what happens during a race and why we race in the first place. There are some sentences in this book I read over and over so my simple mind can soak them in fully it's that good. Why do you race?

Highly Suggested.

Rest Day.

After 6 straight days of really good riding in, I took today off, except for riding back and forth to work. Korean BBQ on the grill, and Cold Stone ice-cream for dessert. So much for cutting back on calories. Oh well.

Tour de Georgia TT Contest Update.

Kyle over at PedalnAround inquired about the Astana Swag I "won" during the Tour de Georgia for guessing closest the time they'd ride in the Time Trial. It's still not here and I'm beginning to wonder if it'll ever come. I got a package notice yesterday and went over to the Post Office today to see if it was there. Nope. Still waiting. When/If it ever comes I'll be sure to show off the goods here.

Starting to Look Good to Me.

Amazing how winning can make even a discotruckerpornopimp 1970's throwback logo look cool.

Congrats to Greipel, Cavendish and highroad's amazing teamwork for laying down a picture-perfect sprint today at the Giro. Nice!!!

Funny How Things Work.

Earlier I was blogging how bad my legs felt on my ride last night, so I wasn't expecting much on tonight's group ride. Today was gonna be my last hard day of work until Saturday's race since I found that this old body of mine doesn't recover as fast as in the old days.

But what a difference a day makes. Tonight on the hills I was dancing on the pedals! I'll take it.

Pink is my New Favorite Color.

Take a look at the size of this Strawberry Shake! Yowch! Astana has to feel good about it's chances to retain the Maglia Rosa for the last week of the Giro.

Now where's that old Aerosmith CD with Pink on it?