Back to the Races...

Chad had a road race a few weeks ago but since I was inside a 36" pipe I didn't have time to post it. Now I have all the time in the world. Here's what he had to say...

Saturday was my local bike race (Milton Bike Race). It is a 28 mile race with 3 climbs in it. Within the first 2 miles, there's a grade up to 21% that is over a mile long and one with less then a mile to go that has a grade at the top of about 22%. Over these 3 climbs the field will dwindle to about 10 to 20 riders. The last half mile is through the streets of Milton with 4 turns right be for the finish. I was not hoping for that good of a finish, just because it is flat at the end and I wrecked in a training ride on Tuesday which I was still sore from. I did not ride since that day to tried and recover. As I was waiting at the start line, I am informed that there are 2 or 3 pros that are doing this race this year. But that's not all -- they are wearing different jerseys and they all help each other. Not that promising for a Cat 3 racer. At the start, one pro attacks within the first half mile and stays until about mile 13. After we go over the mile climb, I am sitting in 3rd place with a buddy of mine and a good rider. There are a few other riders and of course the 3 pros. As we are riding, they do all the pulling. Hey, if you have 3 pros in a citizens race that are all on the same team, you are going to make them do all the work. So we all did. Since my buddy and I were the strongest in the group other then the pros and we wanted to try and win this, we worked together and took turns covering the attacks that the pros threw at us. We formed a breakaway of about 15 riders, a little bigger than what we were hoping for. Up the last climb, the strongest riders took off to narrow down the field. As we were going through the corners, I was trying to move up but I could not since the corners are so close together. As we were getting ready for the spring, the pros pushed the sprint and led each other out. The pros got 1st and 2nd and my buddy got 3rd with me coming in at 5th. Not bad for what we went through. After the race, I looked at our average speed and it was an amazing 25mph. Next weekend I'll be heading to Smethport for a 53 mile race.

Good job Mr. Chad.