Erik, one of our gracious hosts.
Sheldon showing off his clean ride for the ladies.
Sheldon throwing Fort Collins gang symbols on our recovery ride.All in all, the day wasn't too bad. Sheldon and I had a good morning. We stopped at the Roastery Coffee Shoppe on the way out of town for our morning ride. On the 90 minute trek, we got some good photography in as you can see from the photo above. I also had time to soak up some sun! Additionally, Sheldon and I spent some time cleaning all the mud and sand off our bikes after last nights rain-fest criterium.
As for the criterium in Grafton today, it started out pretty well. Lots of fresh legs were there and once they had some time to thrash themselves, the pace became manageable. A small break went up the road and got almost 1 minute on the pack. Then Pipp told me that he and a few other guys were gonna roll at the front and for me to sit in. This was SUPER NICE since I didn't have to cover any stupid attacks. At about 10 laps to go, they boyz had the gap down to 12 seconds, but Sheldon was left at the front shaking his elbow and no other people wanted to help out. So ther free wheels started flying again and the gap quickily grew back up to 1 minute. I was still sitting very comfortably in the pack surfing the 10th - 15th position. And that's when tragety struck....
Going around the last corner at 6 laps to go (the pit closes at 7 to go), I was pedaling through the corner with the rest of the pack and made a mid-turn tragectory switch due to some pack movement to the outside. I hit my right pedal against the ground with enough force to lift my back wheel off the ground. Down I went. I have always wondered how people can crach themselves out of a race solo, but now I know. I know it was my own fault and I should have been able to go through the corner like I did the 30(ish) other times before. But somehow I just biffed it.
On the bright side, I did pimp the points leader coming into the race for a prime. That made me feel pretty good.
Really, I just feel bad that Sheldon and Frank dug so deep for me and I biffed a corner, something that I typically do very well. But that's why Frank is one of my hero's... after working his tail off that last half of the race, he still came up with an impressive sprint to take 3rd place and the overall lead of the Tour of Dairyland. GO FRANK!!!!
Enjoy the pics below!
As for the criterium in Grafton today, it started out pretty well. Lots of fresh legs were there and once they had some time to thrash themselves, the pace became manageable. A small break went up the road and got almost 1 minute on the pack. Then Pipp told me that he and a few other guys were gonna roll at the front and for me to sit in. This was SUPER NICE since I didn't have to cover any stupid attacks. At about 10 laps to go, they boyz had the gap down to 12 seconds, but Sheldon was left at the front shaking his elbow and no other people wanted to help out. So ther free wheels started flying again and the gap quickily grew back up to 1 minute. I was still sitting very comfortably in the pack surfing the 10th - 15th position. And that's when tragety struck....
Going around the last corner at 6 laps to go (the pit closes at 7 to go), I was pedaling through the corner with the rest of the pack and made a mid-turn tragectory switch due to some pack movement to the outside. I hit my right pedal against the ground with enough force to lift my back wheel off the ground. Down I went. I have always wondered how people can crach themselves out of a race solo, but now I know. I know it was my own fault and I should have been able to go through the corner like I did the 30(ish) other times before. But somehow I just biffed it.
On the bright side, I did pimp the points leader coming into the race for a prime. That made me feel pretty good.
Really, I just feel bad that Sheldon and Frank dug so deep for me and I biffed a corner, something that I typically do very well. But that's why Frank is one of my hero's... after working his tail off that last half of the race, he still came up with an impressive sprint to take 3rd place and the overall lead of the Tour of Dairyland. GO FRANK!!!!
Enjoy the pics below!
1 layer of skin removed from my calf.
2 layers of skin removed from my hip. I think it looks worse in person, but maybe that's just because of the massive welt and the pain.
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