Beat the Heat

I think I spent 13 hours at work between Friday and saturday and 14 hours in the car driving between Saturday and Sunday leaving about 12 hours of sleep for the weekend. Not a good way to go but it seems to work if you make it.
Saturday a couple of us from ISCorp blasted down to Grays Lake, IL for one of the last crits of the year. A horseshoe shaped crit with good money - very technical and it took good skills to pedal through all the corners at speed. Kyle attacked 2nd lap and I jumped over a few riders and we held a 20 second gap on the field for the remaining 65 minutes - talk about what seemed like the worlds longest race, I didn't think it was ever going to end and Kyle was killing me the whole time. I don't think the gap ever went over 20 seconds until about 10 laps to go when it finally got comfortable. We went 1-2 so it was worth it and there was good money so the added driving for the weekend wasn't too bad. Kyle actually won the state time trial championships earlier in the day so he is the double champ and it hurt my ego pretty bad that he was still riding me into the ground during the crit. He's riding well.


A short nights sleep and we were on the road again at 6:45 Sunday morning headed towards Minnesota. I wasn't really planning on racing in 95 degree heat before leaving for WORS #8 but as we drove out of the rain and through Wausau the temperture continued to rise all the way until we arrived. All the rain the night before left the course slippery and the parking area a soggy oven. I was dripping sweat just taking the bike off the car but it's amazing how much better it can feel actually riding over just standing there.

I can't say I didn't have it pretty good despite having to drive 5 hours before the race. Former Sheboygan WORS race director Brett Edgerle has been chauffeuring me around to the last couple of races in his minivan and letting me sit in the back seat with my legs up and the AC cranked watching movies. Can't get much better than that and I'm sure it helped getting in an extra needed nap between Shawano and Eau Claire.

The race went well. I felt really good and kept the thermostat between the needles as the other riders faded one by one through the laps. Brendan Moore and Nathan Guerra kept the racing close and never gave up so it was always a mental battle to keep the pressure on. The heat didn't seem to bother me too much physically, but mentally my head just gets drowsy and on the start line all I wanted to do was sleep. Anyway, despite being probably the hottest race of the year I was able to win to end the weekend and start looking forward to O2S and whatever might happen there next week. See ya there.