Sylvan Springs Crit + Hell's Kitchen= Tired Scott

One of the advantages or disadvantages of being an old ass Cat 3 is you have a lot of opportunity to race. Once again I got 3 races in two days. That makes races 5,6, & 7 for the year. The results are slowly starting to come as my legs are getting under me. Saturday I drove up to St. Looey with Amber & my Mom for the Sylvan Springs Crit. They bravely sat through the chilly wind to watch me race the 3/4 & turn around and race the 1/2/3's. All the while listening to the International Christian Cyclists blare AC/DC from their van.

I figured I was going to have a rough day being the only OCC'er. For some reason in the 3/4's I decided I needed to get in a break. So after getting in about 50 different breaks I gave up on that plan & waited for the field sprint. Anyone who's seen me race crits knows I like to sit @ the back. This usually bites me in the ass and as usual it did. The course has a nice uphill @ the start finish that is kind of stair stepped through 2 turns to a flat crosswind section. This is followed by a tailwind downhill to recover on. Then on to a sweeping downhill to slight chicane to the rise to the line. I'd been using the uphill to advance my position pretty much @ will so I decided to sit back & rest, dumb. With one lap to go found myself about 10 guys too far back. So I ended up somewhere in the top 15?
No, No that's not Skippy it's me trying to warm up.

On to the 1/2/3 which was supposed to be 45 min plus 5 laps. Somewhere along the way it got changed to 60 min+5. I didn't figure this out till the clock said 58 min. No worries, by 30 minutes in my legs started to feel good & I moved toward the front. A daring move for me in a 1/2/3 race since I'm usually a little intimidated. I was getting pushed around a little but was holding my own. With 5 to go I stuck myself in the first ten since 4 guys had got up the road & the race was getting put in the gutter in the crosswind. SoI figured I'd suck it up & not get dropped. At the bell I dug WAY DEEP & went with a guy who attacked. I stuck to his wheel like glue & rode in the gutter to force him to stay on the front. So when we turned down wind he attacked again. So some how I dug deeper & stuck him. I got bumped back about 3 spots missing a wreck from the front four, so now only 1-3 had been decided. Coming out of the last turn I said F'it, stuck it in the 11 and completely buried myself to take 4th in the field sprint, 7th overall(which put me in the $$). After I recovered I realized I'd gone to the line with Joe Freaking Hill! Not bad for a 153lbs confirmed non sprinter. Don't ask how I do better in a 1/2 race than a 3/4 race? Longer is better I guess.

This is the ginormous banana split I ate on the way home from St. Looey. Took like 10 min.

After getting home @ 10pm Saturday I made the turn around @ 5:00am to check the radar & get ready to head to Arkansas for Hell's Kitchen. Once Coker decided to finally get out of bed he came & got JJ & me from my house. Then we had to do some quick rack repair in the driveway to get JJ's bike on top. The forecast had called for a 90% chance of rain. For you math impaired that's a 10% chance it WON'T rain(you know who you are).

We started in rain capes to stay dry from the 2 or 3 drops falling. I'd ditch mine 5 miles in. Coker decided to cut some weight(I think he hit his goal becasue he ate a 5lb burger in 5 min) & wore his fastened up the whole first lap. From the Hell's Kitchen climb on Coker guarded the rear to make sure no one snuck up on me. He needs to work on this because guys kept catching from behind. JJ got dropped but fought back hard to catch up before the first climb on the 2nd lap only to be have a mechanical on the Hell's Kitchen climb. So he decided to wait for Coker & head to the car & start plotting how to make me drop out so they could go eat. Bastard's! I stayed in & got worked over by the Tyson boys. Could only get help from TJ from the BMC North squad. With 2 guys up the road 1o or so guys sprinted for the last places. My legs were shot so I rolled in @ the back of the group. I guess I should have taken my chances in the 1/2/3 race. Now I've got to get a good week in & decide if I'm going to do the epic 106 mile 1/2/3 Dogwood or the 53 milder 3/4 version. Since I'm leaning toward an upgrade & may do the epic.

Amber spent Sunday @ her first baby shower. The ladies from work graciously threw it for her & anther pregger from work. She got lots of cool stuff for the kiddy. With all the stuff my Aunt gave us Saturday Mia's room is starting to bulge. We won't have to buy her clothes for @ least a year. Anyway thanks to all the ladies from work, I know they don't read this garbage but it was appreciated.