Natz wrap-up

Back in the South or as Little Nicky would say the "Deep South" from Nats.
So here is how I shall sum up the trip:

TT- 33km of fun....start-cool little golf cart path roads and it goes up for 4.5miles-*so far so good*-almost catch my minute man at the top (he's fast) *smiling so far* - downhill- false flat into headwind = :( - i then go into hibernation mode for the rest of the TT as it is just crosswind or headwind on these flat or steep rollers then i got off of my bike, crawled into a hole and died.

Crit- Location: Anaheim Angels stadium. Distance: 60km divided into 35 laps of joyous fun. Before I begin I would like to describe the National crit courses. For having the best crit racers in the world we put on a crappy crit course for NATIONALS. Its in a freaking parking lot for Pete's sake. We might as well went into the Angels stadium and rounded the bases for an hour and 15mins. As usual there are crashes in a wide open race. Big crash with one lap to go. I was sitting around 40th just staying out of trouble. Guys start stacking it on the right into the barriers. I see fans scattering. I begin to move to the left...nope...guys crashing there. Go up the gut! Dude falls into me I let out a battle cry that resembles that little raccoon off of Pocahontas and I manage to not fall. 1 point David

Road Race- YAWN....120 miles no big deal...20 mile circuit or hot dog loop go up a road turn around go through start/finish turn around at the same road and do it again in the suburbs. The course was wide open as in who would win and 3 lanes of roads on each side divided by a nice median. 2 nice 2-3min climbs and a 1km uphill to the finish. We averaged 28-29mph for the first two laps then the break got away. Butler and I just covered the attacks before and of course that went and we were out before we knew what happened. But we tried anyway. There is also a rule where you would be pulled if you are more then 3 mins behind the race. Which is dumb b/c what if you crash, flat, mechanical, you could still come back. So out of the 150 something that got started, 13 "finished". I made it around the 90mile mark. Butler 100mile mark. They scored Butler but missed me somehow (whateva...). The officials never told us what was our final lap so we rolled at the back when we could have sprinted for some good placings. If the race would have been run the right way Butler would have a Top 15 and me a top 25 which is a decent result for us considering we only had 3 guys while most teams had quite a bit but I dont think we could have touched Slipstream with the shear horsepower and #'s. So congratz to 'em.

Hopefully next year TheOC will put on little better courses (may be with some hills??)


Now Im in Athens, GA for the fall Athens Twilight commonly known as college. I shall be holding the fort down here for a bit. Next races:
River Gorge (aug 23rd)
US 100km
Dahlonega, GA (sp??)
Saul Raisn Crit
Michelin Crit

I shall try to keep you up to date...
David