Race report

Date: 6/24/07
Race: Owasco Flyer
Distance: 36 Miles

The Owasco Flyer is one of my favorite races. I can’t really put my finger on what I like so much about it. Maybe it’s screaming down the road at 30 miles an hour with a group of 200 people. Perhaps it’s the terrain that doesn’t really favor someone who is strong in any one area. In any case I was super stoked about this year’s flyer.

I was worried, sure, but for the first time I was going to be doing the flyer with my hombres. People have been sharing knowledge of every aspect of racing with me since I started cycling. I was excited, for the first time we were going to a race that none of the other guys had ever done. This gave me a chance to be the one sharing a little knowledge.

I have been dropped on this course a couple of times and knew where to pay attention and where to work. I also know who the fast guys are. My goal was to keep them in sight as long as possible. I succeeded in one respect; I kept the leaders in sight for the whole race. Unfortunately that was after they dropped me and I dug deep to catch back on. Alas, I had forgotten to pack my suitcase of courage. I kept the leaders in sight for several miles and I kept everyone else out of sight up to the very end. I was in the unhappy place called no mans land. I don’t remember much about the ride from the time I got dropped to the time I finished. All I remember was looking back at the top of each hill to see if I could spot any chasers. I only spotted them on the last hill before the finish.

I was very happy to have finished 8^th with a time of 1:29:56 (a 24 mph average) up one spot from last year and three minutes faster, and up 12 spots from the year before. The other boys did well with Jared finishing 34 with a time of 1:32:34, Tom finished 62^nd with a time of 1:35:37, and Eric finished 77^th with a time of 1:38:33.