Smethport

Race Report

Date: 9/23/06

Race: Wheel around the hub

Distance: 50 something miles

This is it, the final race report for the season (at least from me). All week I had been thinking about this race and the best plan of attack. I knew that I wouldn’t have my usual coterie of teammates. We don’t always do the best job of helping each other but there is something reassuring about being surrounded by dudes that you always ride with. I wasn’t all that worried about the race distance after having cracked off a 5 hours something century the week before. What I don’t like about this race is that it is flat-flat-flat. I like a little more character to the landscape. Anyway, race day I picked up my bike at the shop and then picked up Jimmy at his place. It was pretty gray and drizzly at that point and stayed that way all day long. Jimmy and I talked about all things bike on the way down and most of the way back. There is not much to tell about the actual race itself The course is a 7 or so mile lap that you do 7 times. There are some really cools turns and a wooden plank bridge and a metal grated bridge (boy was that thing was scary in the rain). I surfed the back of the pack the entire race with one meager attack that didn’t amount to much around lap 4. Otherwise I just sucked wheel. At the end I sprinted up the only hill and past a bunch of people and then just motored the 150 yards or so to the finish. My heart just wasn’t in this race; once it started I was only thinking about being done. Jimmy must have felt the same way because he was smart enough to pull the plug a little early. I went from 32nd last year to 7^th this year so I was happy with the improvement. I didn’t like the amount of cleaning up I had to do to my bike though. On the bright side my drive train was on the brink of being really shot and this race just pushed it over the edge. You know what that means don’t you? It means new bike parts….Mwahahahahaha. Maybe I will be faster now with the new goods, I hope so, maybe fast enough to win this race next year. Granted, I will have to take out a second mortgage on my tent to pay for the new bike bling, or maybe I can take up mooching as a career instead of a favorite past time. In any case I know where to get my new gear fix. Where you ask? Oswald cycle works of course. Oh yeah if you have the guys at Oswald’s install your new bike parts like I’m going to do, make sure you tip the mechanic with a nice greasy piece of pizza.