The last couple of weeks have been pretty busy all-around, and at the moment I feel like I'm just barely treading water. Two weekends of collegiate races, officiating, and training have made me really look forward to the upcoming weekend at home.
First off was the conveniently nearby LSU collegiate race. As usual, I would be officiating for this one which meant rushing off to Baton Rouge during rush hour to make the start of Friday night registration. Despite my best efforts, there were still a couple of mystery riders in the field, thanks to the "permanent race number" thing that always seems to cause problems. This time there were riders who had one number on the start list but a different one on their jerseys. Add to that the usual riders who show up for registration and don't actually have collegiate licenses but tell me they've already raced twice in Texas collegiate races. I just hand them the iPad and tell them to renew or buy their licenses on the spot. Anyway, the road races went off pretty smoothly. These races are on a nice rolling circuit near St. Francisville with parking on the property of one of the local riders. After the race there was genuine jambalaya for all, which was a good thing because it wasn't hardly worth driving back to Baton Rouge despite the fact that the evening time trial was scheduled a good four hours after the end of the last road race. So we basically just hung out on the property waiting for the TT to start. Danielle made the break in the C race and finished 2nd, and then missed 1st in the TT by a mere 4 seconds after cruising past the finish line without realizing it and thinking it was actually farther down the road.
The time trial was, as usual, nice and easy, and once Ricky came back from the finish line we sat down on the roadside swatting mosquitoes and entered the times so we could post results before everyone left. It's interesting that a lot of the collegiate riders don't stick around to check the results, although that's probably because they are often not available. The forecast for Sunday was not looking good.
Well, Sunday morning was damp, foggy, and rainy for most of the races. Fortunately, we were at least spared any really heavy stuff, and the slick roads resulted in only a few minor crashes. By the time we were done, I was pretty cooked and happy to hitch a ride to a little after-race lunch at the home Ben Bradley's parents down in Plaquemine. It was a long weekend, however, and I really hated the fact that I'd not thrown a leg over my bike all weekend. Next up was a long road trip to Abilene.
So last weekend we had six riders make the trip with Kenny and me to Abilene for the Abilene Christian University race weekend. This one started with a Saturday criterium and ended with a Sunday road race, but lacked the usual time trial or team time trial. Because of classes, one rental minivan with me, Kenny, Danielle and Greg left around 2:00 pm while the other didn't hit the road for a couple more hours. It was about a 10-hour drive, so do the math. I think we got there before midnight, but the other car didn't arrive until 2 or 3 am. Races started the next morning around 8:00, and a cool front was coming through so it was pretty cold for the first ones. Since I had no officiating duties for this one, I could actually watch the races and, because they had included Alumni in the Cat. B race, Kenny and I rode with that group. It was difficult to ride a criterium without really affecting the outcome. Apparently we were actually allowed to work in this race, but it just didn't seem fair to do so. I pulled a bit when the pace would slack off, and moved closer to the front now and then when it would get sketchy at the back. It was actually a lot of fun and I felt good that I got in a little exercise. Danielle ended up taking 2nd in her race. The promoting club had made arrangements for us to eat at the university all-you-can-eat cafeteria for $5 each, which was awesome because this was a very high-class setup with everything from paninis and pizza to salad and ice cream. That night we went out to a local Mexican restaurant, Abuelo's, which was also excellent, but before that we drove out to the road race to pre-ride the course. This was a good thing because it was a lot of unprotected chip-seal and a couple of the key turns were not clearly marked the next morning for the road races.
Sunday morning Kenny and I again started with the B group for their race which was around 40 miles in a strong wind that had the speeds ranging from 18 mph in the headwind to 34 mph in the tailwind. The race started out kind of slow after a flurry of attacks and early on I decided against just sitting at the back. Still, toward the end of the first of two laps the pack let a break of six or so roll off the front without much of a response. A while later I found myself, quite by accident, off the front where I was soon joined by one of the collegiate riders. There was already a pretty big gap to the pack which still included our only rider, but I figured there was little chance that the two of us would survive the headwind section, so I started trading pulls with the guy thinking it would help tire him a bit. Surprisingly, when I looked back after we had started the 7 or 8 mile headwind stretch, I couldn't see the pack. Then the follow car passed us and I though that the pack must have disintegrated, so I continued working with this rider as we pickup up another rider who had come out of the break that was now disappearing from view. Oh well, at least I was getting a nice workout! We were near the turn at the end of the headwind section when I sat up and looked back and was surprised to see a pack of riders just about 20 seconds back. To the dismay of the other rider, I stopped pulling and we were soon caught with maybe five miles to go before the finish. David ended up winning the pack sprint, so that was about the best possible outcome after he missed the break. Danielle ended up winning her road race and Ben made the podium for his criterium finish, so we stayed for the awards that were, thankfully, done promptly after the finish of the last race.
We had time to run back to the hotel for showers, and then hit up the university cafeteria again before hitting the road for the long drive back to New Orleans.
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