Baraboo RR

All last night was spent trying to assemble those Schwinn sponsor Fastback Pro frames.

God, what a mess.

No headset, front derailleur, fork, seatpost, seat collar....everything. But they are sweet. Due to some headset problems, I'm still rocking the Fuji right now until I get all the parts I need to build up the Schwinn on Monday.

Then today was even more of a mess. Completely moved out of my dorm room this morning--big thanks to my Dad for driving down to Mad Town to help me get the job done. Right afterwards, me, Fred, and Max drive up to Baraboo for the WCA road race.

Baraboo is an amazing area of WI--it's hilly, green, and rural. You'd never believe that it was WI from far away. The course had quite a bit of climbing and some gusty winds--the course climbed from 900-1300 feet each lap.

So, my head hurts on the way over to the race. My sinuses have been kind of stuffed lately and I am afarid that I'm coming down with a cold. So be it. I down some 'profun, have a cup of Start Village coffee courtsey of Eaon, and get ready to race.

It was a fairly uneventful race. Everyone matched each others attacks on the climbs. At the end of the first lap I set a good tempo up the last climb and attacked at the top. Casey McCulley snagged my wheel and we worked together to get a solid gap on the field after 10 minutes. IS Corps and Brazen Dropouts were blocking in the field for us, so the gap was increasing every minute.

Then--again--poof! Wish, wish, wish, wish."

Flat tire. Again. But no pothole this time.

Thanks to Greg Brandt, I was able to continue the race after the field passed me 2 minutes ago. He and I swapped rear wheels, and it was TT time again. I kept the field in sight for the first half of the lap and caught up with another Nature Valley rider. He and I worked together to chase back onto the pack--but to no avail. We just kept the gap constant and never really closed in on the field.

Considering my head was feeling so grogy, it was a good race. Now, it's time for rest. LOTS of rest. Tommorow comes the Wheel and Sprocket Crit--the last crit before Nationals--so it's important that I feel 100% for the race. Confidence in crits is key, and tommorow is my last day to get my shit together.

Oh, and I'll put some new tires on too. My own fault that I flatted on tires with 3000+ miles, eh?