Owen Cup

A lot of people get "butterflies" before every race. I have been racing for awhile, so I tend to only get butterflies before the first couple races of the season, as well as before big races. This morning I woke at 7:30 to eat (3 hour rule, 3 hour rule) to prepare for the Owen Cup. Butterflies kicked in and after breakfast(eggs and oatmeal), I felt nauseous. I got over it as soon as I got on the bike, as always, on my way to Bollos...

RACE REPORT:

The course consisted of laps of about 25 miles. The first half lap is hard with non-stop rollers. If you are from MI reading this it is the equivalent to riding 15 miles worth of laps at kensington, but not the big laps, the small ones. Then the race drops down into the valley via Sandy Ridge for a strong head wind on the way back and not so many hills. At the end of each lap we ride up a 2.5 mile climb up Harding and Happy Hollow to the start of the next lap. On the last lap the race goes up an "alternate" ending and finishes up at the top of Harding.

With about 20 riders starting with the A's, the first half of lap one was somewhat fast. I got in a break with Steven Gordon Pro Bike Racer and Scottie Weiss early, too early, and it came back. We arrived at Sandy Ridge and the race stops. Andrew Olson was off the front and dangerously opened a large gap on the field. Steven unleashed some fury on the front but got pulled back. We eventually started working together in a nice smooth rotating pace line. We caught Andrew going up Harding and the group is together for the start of lap 2.

My race ended over the top of the post-switchback climb on the start of lap 2 when I realized I couldn't shift down in my rear cassette. My shifter was jammed and I was stuck in my 25, switching back and forth from my 39/53 up front. I sat up as I watched the remaining 10 riders ride away from me on the descent. Among the riders left was Scottie Weiss (Kenda), Reid Beloni, John Delong, Sam Froulich (really a triathlete), Andrew Olson, Aaron Synder (2007 Owen cup champion), John Webb, Steven Gordon (DLP), Aarons fellow Mtb. friend and maybe one or two more.

After I got dropped I stopped and figured out that I had to hold my big shifter to the right while I pushed the little one to the left in order for my piece of *&$* shifter to work. I should have figured this out while I was still in the group. I rode the rest of the race with the B's and headed back to the top of Harding to watch the end of the A race.

The end of the A race goes as follows:

Reid gets away at the start of lap 3. Steven goes after him starting at the county line hill. Steven catches Reid at the notch of Harding less then one mile from the finish. (very dramatic) They ride together to the finish, Steven has the legs to win the sprint. Nice Going.

I haven't been "performing" too well recently. I sat up at Andrew Gold, I sat up at last Sunday's race ride, and I had an mechanical at Owen Cup. Excuses, excuses. Hopefully things will turn around by the time the season starts in one week. Chances are I will be dropped in the road race as a result of eating too much of Mrs. Mcdonnell's ice cream cake.

That's all for now. Stay tuned for next week's race report of the NC state weekend.

P.S.

Ever wonder how long it takes to write a post such as this? If 'M' is the amount of time it takes to eat a one pound bag of m&m's and 'N' is the amount of time it takes to eat a extra large cheese Firehouse pizza, then this post took (M+N)/2 time.