Race Report

St.Paddies day pedal w/ TCBC

William O'Brian
I actually get to write a race report this week.Jay,you'll like this one.Right before I left the house yesterday morning for WO'B Sam told me they were having a race there.It was an 11k sprint course and close to 50 people showed up I guess.They let 2-4 people go at a time like a TT.I went towards the beginning because I didn't want too much lap traffic.I started with some older guy who stuck on me for the first few k's so I let him in front to pace for a while.He pulled away a little on the flat but once we reached the black diamond back sections I passed him back and slowly pulled away.I got caught by the leaders on the longest climb with about 5k to go.I could tell they've put alot of time on the ski's.They were so smooth and had great balance.I was loosing form however and my glide was getting crappy.On the last major climb the Forest lake high schooler passed me and I yelled at him to "Drill it",because the other two guys were about a 1min out and we had about 1.5k to go.That high schooler was 16 years old and the 2 leaders were 23 and 18 respectively.So not to shabby for a youngin.I took 5th overall and was only 5 seconds off 4th.The leaders got me by like 6 min.Full results are posted on skinnyski under Friends of Bill. I had fun doing it and I found out that the older guy I was with was one of Mike Halls former mtb teammates.Go figure.

After the awards I headed home just in time to throw the chamois(rock) on for the St.Paddies day ride with the TCBC.There had to be about 30 riders that came. It started out slow but the group soon split and the lead group was about 6 of us. Sam started it all when he went for a sprint and this other guy who was sitting in the back forever went after him.That mean't I had to join in as well and chased him.Dave (the clydsdale rider with a road bike) took the sprint,and after that the city limit primes were on.Dave I heard at the beginning of the ride did the headwaters 100 well under 5hrs.He is a pretty heafty dude too.Some of those guys can suprise you.They can really pull on the flats sometimes but as soon as the road turns up they put it in reverse. The next prime I didn't know was comming and I see Dave flying buy on the outside and I was the only one to give chase.I was slowly gaining on him but I couldn't make up the ground in time and he took it again.Dave would never go to the front and pull between primes however and so I went to the back and said "you do to know where all these sprints are"."No I don't....Thats one up there isn't it?" So I take off and start that one only to be beat out once again.Dang it!Granted I have the burly Surly with cross tires and bar end shifters and he has a DBR road bike.But this dude is like 5' 4" and well over 200lbs.On the last sprint I needed to win the Shoreview prime.I didn't know exactly where it was but my plan was after the only stop sign on Co rd J and 49 I would try a solo break away and make him work for the next one.When we got to the stop sign I saw the prime only about 100 yards away! Then out of the corner of my eye I see Dave swing wide around everyone.I was somewhat ready for this one and just hammered what gears I had, ripping through the pot hole infested road and victory was soon mine! At the end of the day I was so tired, and I couldn't eat enough.It was like 2 races in a day,and I felt good about it.