Racing, Swine Flu, etc.

I haven't yet written about my first cycling race which was 3 weeks ago mainly because I was waiting on pictures to include on my page as well. Well, without further ado, above is my picture from the race. There are no other people in the picture, but that's because--I WON!! It was an exciting race to say the least. I spent the first two laps riding in the back and adjusting to riding in a big group of people. After we finished the third lap, I tried to break away, but when I looked over my shoulder, there was a big group right behind me, so I backed off the pace.

My brother, Barrett, had also tried to break away during the third lap, but he was also brought back. He and I were talking on the next to last lap, and I told him I wanted to go one more time. The place I thought would be good was too far from the finish though. So, Barrett told me where he thought would be a good place to go for it, and when we got there, I had to ride on a concrete banking surface because everyone was jockeying for position. I noticed that one guy had already took off from the group about a 1/2 mile from the finish. I looked around and noticed that no one was going for him, so I took off (precisely in the spot that Barrett had suggested). This turned out to be a brilliant move because I was slowly gaining on the leader with each passing second. When I looked over my shoulder, the peleton was crazy with guys going all over the place trying to prepare for the final sprint. I realized that no one was right behind me and that I was catching the leader at a pace that would put me ahead of him just before the line. As it turns out, I did get in front of the guy who had went early, but I was ALMOST caught by another guy sprinting his guts out!

When the race finished, I wasn't even sure it was over because no one said anything for a minute or so. After a few minutes a guy rode up and asked if I won the race, and I told him I guessed I did, but I wasn't sure. Turns out, I did win, but if the finish had been 25 feet more, I probably would have lost to the sprinter.

On another note, Barrett got pinned in behind some folks, and while he did get to show some of his sprint speed, it was only enough for 7th place because some of the people in front of him were not pinned in coming to the final turn.

We were both pleased with the race in general. Obviously, I was happy with where I finished, but Barrett said he thought he could've done more. Well, he has his chance this weekend at the Sunny King Criterium. We'll both be competing again, then.

As for the swine flu, my wife (Rachel) is off of school for the next two days because her school system is shut down due to two kids testing positive for it here in Madison. Is it just me though, or is the media hyping this up terribly bad?