Jax recap

Saturday - Downtown Jacksonville Crit
I was right, this race was hard. Why you ask, well there were a couple of factors.

• Wind- it was bad enough that there were 30 mph gusts coming off of the river, but what made it worse was all the tall downtown buildings. There weren't any clear cut head/tail/cross winds, one section could have a head wind in the beginning, then you'd get slammed by a crazy cross wind in the middle and just as you'd start the corner, a tail wind would push you through it like bubbles out of a jacuzzi jet (how bout that analogy?) At one point, just before the third corner, the cross wind was soo bad that we would slow to 17 mph and have to lean into the wind just to stay in a straight line. So we were going straight, but leaning at like a 67 degree angle...CRAZY! It was supposed to rain as well, so I guess I can be thankful that we at least stayed dry.
• Big-time race, Big-time field - Being an NRC weekend, there were a lot of top level amateur guys who traveled in from out of state as well. This upped the competition level and created a fast, aggressive and hard race.

In the end, I didn't get a result. With two laps to go I was on the wheel of Big Phil from Team Florida. While going through corner #1 I was taken into the cones when Phil flatted. I didn't go down, but the delay was enough to see the entire field charge by. I was annoyed, but not as much as Phil was. I was happy with making it through the windy conditions without quitting. The mental part of this race was harder than the physical part (just by a smidge though).

I stuck around to watch the rest of the races as I had some friends and teammates who had qualified for the amateur finals race. The crowds were great and the venue was top notch. Rebecca Larson once again made it onto the podium in the woman's pro-1,2,3 race. The men's pro race was delayed just long enough to see the first rain drops fall while the pros sat on the start line. Earlier in the day I had seen Frankie Andreu with his United Pro cycling team. The UPC boys were among many top pros who ventured down to the ole F-L-A for some racing. Jittery Joes brought some big guns including Australian, Trent Wilson. Brice Jones from Jelly Belly was also in attendance as well as Dan Larson's VMG boys. Unfortunately, the rain increased in intensity and the crowds dispersed. I watched the remainder of the race from a friends hotel window.

Sunday - Penny Farms Road Race
This was the first race in more than a couple weekends where I felt strong enough to do more than just hold on. I stayed close enough to the front to watch for anything going up the road and never got myself into the "hurt-locker". Coming into the last mile of the final lap of the race, we had all of our guys lined up on the front setting the pace for the eventual sprint. I was fourth wheel as the sprint opened up and the field spread out across the road. In the blink of a eye someone went down right in the middle and before I knew what had happened I was flying through the air and landing directly on my head. A ton of guys went down and I fared better than most thanks to my trusty helmet, which gave it's life to save mine. Obviously not the way I had wanted the race to end, but my teammate John finished well and I didn't die.


Here's the finish of the race just as the sprint started to open up. If you look closely, you can see some red, white and blue jersey's on the ground in the middle...that is probably my teammate Brad, but I'm in there somewhere. Thanks to Jayson O. for sending me the pic.

I did the Hipp ride yesterday and didn't feel the effects of the crash, so that's a good sign. No races the next couple of weeks for me, so I'll probably get a chance to see my wife who's been buried at work (she's an accountant.It's's tax season).