Oh what fun...

...it is to ride!

yeah that song about
sleighs and all
goes on way too long.

It should just end right there.

Oh what fun it is to ride!

Especially if you are riding with the MIB. I just cannot even start to tell you how much fun I had this weekend.

I knew I would be as useless as tits on a bull if I went down to Orosi so instead I went up to Santa Rosa for a little critaction. Unbelievably my first of the season. They had a 2/3 race and a P/1/2/3 race. I started both...finished the first in OK fashion. A break of 4 got off early and not surprisingly there was no worthwhile chase to catch them. 30 seconds gap all day. A foreseeable crash in turn one of the last lap gapped the field and allowed about twenty of us to ride to the finish for 5th-25th. I was somewhere in the middle. Not overly impressive but for my first (and an intended conservative) crit of the year...not bad. The prosey race, sans pros (except one Kodak from what I could tell), started fast and lots of gaps opened. I tried to come around and close but found myself less than motivated and thinking more about racing with the boys the next day. So, I justified the bail in order to save some for the Hanford. OK really, I just was tired and didn't feel like fighting the wind and I was a wimp...there, admitted.

Hanford, I like that course. Though as another MIB pointed out, there was no draft. It was like the wind was coming right over the rider in front and no matter how low and aero you got you were still getting blasted. With 8 MIB we were ready, willing and more than able. Olaf slayed'em in the break and CW wound up the field to catapult Jeff to the line for the field sprint.

The prosey race, though longer, somehow seemed easier. Maybe it was smoother. Maybe I was just so damn tired my legs were failing to register pain due to exhaustion or just plain old conservation of energy. Either which way it was good to get out and spin'em up. I just wish I had been more capable of countering and closing. It will come. It is quite apparent that I am not going to be an early season stand-out. I hope I have something to show later!

Well, it was great to be on the bike and racing with the team. Even the kids enjoyed it. Big hugs to Aunt Soni for dog-sitting during the race. Phanny can't wait to see her new boyfriend Migo next weekend.