Soulard Crit

The Soulard Crit is a very cool event. I had never done it before as a racer, so I decided to give it a go in the Masters division. I didn't feel 100% at the starting line and got gapped right away. We had a small chase group going for pretty much the rest of the race. It seems like we were coming up on crashes all the time and I almost ran over a spectator, but I managed to stay upright. Thankfully, there was small enough of a field that the official left lapped riders in the race, so I got to finish. It was a very hard effort being out in the wind over 50% of the time. When it ended I hung around for the 4/5 race. A lot of my Hub teamates got pulled. I would have probably been one of them, so I'm glad I did the Masters race and got a longer workout.

We cheered Ryan Heine on to a front pack finish in the 3s race. He was totally gassed when the race was over.

Then something strange happened. The St. Louis Cycling Club guys said they needed an announcer. Being the ham that I am, I volunteed and announced the women's race. It was a lot of fun. I wasn't very good at it, but I did my best. I think with practice I could do a lot better. It started to look like I would announce the pro race and my replacement finally showed up. The pace car driver gave me $20 for my trouble, so I got to race for free. Is this a great country or what!

Burn Out

It all started on the fourth of July. The 60 mile "fun ride" turned into an epic hammerfest a lot of the time. Lots of breaks, but still lots of hard riding. Mark nipped me in the city limit sprint going into Waterloo. I felt pretty strong all day. Well until I got home and I was so tired I took a two hour nap.

Wednesday night the Hub ride rolled out and I felt pretty good. I worked my way up from a long way back in the Litzsinger sprint and charged up to Manchester on the front. I hung out for a short while with my homies.

Thursday's Dogfish ride wasn't that fast, but I used up lots of energy. I was first up to Dougherty Ferry, but I got smoked on the Kirkwood Park hill. I reeled in lots of guys at the end okay.

Friday AM Marshall loop was not good. All hills and all the pop out of my legs. I wimped out on the apartments hill and soloed home. Saturday I skipped the Hub and did a 31 mile slowish ride on the FoPo loop.

Time to recover for a few days and do it all over again! Ragbrai is right around the corner.

Dogfish Ride

Last Thursday's Dogfish ride was fast. I caught up to it coming down Lockwood just past Mary Queen of Peace. There were lots of Dogfish jerseys in the crowd, which was good to see. Mr. Merli himself was cranking up the hill pretty good. We chatted about the crit and it sounded like he had a good time.

I hung on the back all the way down Geyer and started going around people when we hit the hill. I didn't catch the front group and wound up pulling a bunch almost back to the lead pack by the time we hit Clayton. It was pretty reasonable heading out to Ballas. After Ballas I got back on the front and stayed there for a while. A curly headed Dogfish guy took a nice long flyer and I chased for quite a while.

I did lots of time on the front in the first part of the ride and that usually means the second half will be rough. It was. We couldn't close down the gap on Conway and chased like crazy all the way up the hill to Mason. I took another flyer and pulled up to the Principia hill.

We came back through Kirkwood park. I was the sacrificial lamb and I blew up coming up the hill. I kept grinding and caught the front guys at the very top after they quit pedaling hard. I looked down and we had averaged 20.8 for the ride.

I broke off and road home. I made some nice barbecue and hit the hay early. I love the summer.