Notre Dame

RR: The Notre Dame road race was a flat, pot-hole ridden course with a decent hill at the end of each 10 mile lap. The weather was pleasant and some great bike racing went down. None of this mattered because I am an idiot. A dumbass of the highest form. I left Mark and Josh standing in the UIC parking lot for 2 hours (from 5am to 7am) while I slept through my alarm. This meant they would miss their races. So instead of rushing to South Bend, we made the best of the situation and stopped for some Mickey Ds breakfast, where I ordered a big OJ. Fast forward 3 hours as we begin the neutral roll-out. It is at this moment 3 hours later as our race is beginning that I realize I haven’t peed since before our breakfast stop. The A race was to be 70 miles (~3 hours). 25 miles in and I was feeding a tree. Like I said, idiot. “Anyone who wants to be a can't-hack-it pantywaist who wears their mama's bra, raise your hand.” -Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez Seth was also at ND this weekend and came in a great 8th place in the A race. He rode hard up the Buffalo Rd. hill each lap and eventually jumped into a 4-man chase group late in the race. It was a long, long race, and Seth demonstrated that he is quickly returning to top form again.

Crit: The Rum Village criterium course was in the forest, subtly hilly, and wicked fast. Josh jumped into his first race as the sun was rising (sappy symbolism??). He started off strong, and rode in the lead group for quite a while, despite never having ridden in a race, let alone a pack, before. Uncle Mark was cruising in the Cs, but an early pile-up drove him low. As he was trying to escape the carnage, something slid in front him and it was another case of OTB. Mark was all good, with little more than some bruises and a broken cleat to show for it. Seth and I were ready to rock the A crit, and decided before the race that though the chances of a break getting away were slim on such a fast course, he would try to get in one and I would stick more with the pack and hope for a sprint. Our prediction was right and Seth made several moves to be in the break, though they were roped back. I made a strong effort to chase after the moves when Seth was recovering in the pack, making for a fast, fun race. I ended up getting boxed by a lead-out man in the dicey bunch sprint stuck in 5th gear, and Seth decided to play it safe and not contest the sprint. All in all a solid weekend for us in the As. Seth scored some decent points in the road race, and I sprinkled some on top from the crit. Nationals here we come!!!hahaha