12/15/2004

Nats

I finally have a chance to catch my breath, nats was really hard, anyone who has seen the photos will see that. The course was great, really muddy, but not too technical, bad for me. Mud is good but I need a hard course too. In the age group race I was 27th, not awful but I wasn't happy about it. The start was super fast and then guys kept falling in front of me. I was held up three or four times on the first lap. Once I got going it wasn't too slow, I moved up slowly and then when I relaized it was the last lap as a group of four bridged to me I just easily got away from them, stupid, why wasn't I going harder the whole time? Oh well, I finished strong and called it a day. The helper I spoke with at USA Cycling was very nice a few weeks ago, she spent the time on the phone to help me set up my to race at nats. The problem was that she was WRONG! I needed a UCI Elite License ($150) not a USCF License ($60) I was so pissed. I was torn with what race to do on Sunday, the Elite, and spend the extra $90? Or, the singlespeed race and see what I could find there. The extra money wasn't really the issue as much as the misinformation I was fed over the phone. So I went and bucked up for the UCI Elite. I raced and was doing better than Saturday, I had good legs and was flowing pretty well on the course. The wind on Saturday night dried out the course a ton and they shortened it too, making the laps shorter and faster, scary stuff to come. I got through about six laps before the freight train of Page/Trebon blew past me, a lap down I stopped, pulled over to the side of the course and called it a season. the guys I have been chasing all year in Colorado were lapped just a bit later, what could I do? More tomorrow.

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