June Racing (an interesting month)

I made a conscious attempt to race in the month of June after almost the entire team took the whole month of May off. I looked up races so I'd have at least one possibility every weekend. Even with the weekend I was moving to Mechanicsburg i managed to find a suitable race to do. Good thing I did go to that race because it was the only race I managed to finish this month. The first TT of the month I ended up flatting out. Then I finished well in Erie and things seemed to be looking up. Finally I showed up at the Brookville race because I couldn't make it to the VA state ITT championships after my boss decided I needed to start my night shift training on Sunday night and I wouldn't have made it back on time. That race was the biggest disaster of all since it was canceled because the township, in all of their wisdom, decided the day before a bike race would be the ideal time to re-tar and chip the roads. Anyway, my busy racing month of June turned into more of just a busy month for driving to races, not much actual racing was done. Although I must admit it was worth the ride. Hopefully July will be just as much fun and the races will be more of a success.

Brookville Summer Heat ITT- big let down

I made the trip up to Brookville today for the YMCA Summer Heat ITT. I've done this race 3 other times and it is a good one. It's a small community level event but the course is fun and challenging. It involves alot of rolling hills and some bigger than that but just enough to make it really hurt. Anyway, I show up today and they make and announcement that the race is canceled due to the road workers covering the entire course in fresh tar'N'chips yesterday and it was unsafe to race on. So I headed back to Indiana and rode with Rich after he shut the shop down. Like I said, not much to report.

PLT TT #1

The day started early at 4:30AM. That's what time I had to get up to head to Chesapeake for the race. My start time was 10:20AM and I arrived at 8:30AM so I had plenty of time to get my number pinned on, everything set up, and a good warm-up before the race. It was scorching hot out, 95* at race start and 102* by the time I left. It was a flat lollipop course with a head/cross wind out and tail/cross on the return trip. I wasn't sure how I'd manage to do since I'm just getting over being sick and I'm also very sun burnt. I started out and felt good. I was riding at 26.5mph into the head wind on the way out. Then on the back side of the course I was able to cruise along at 28mph with a tail wind. Then when I was about 200 yards from my last turn before turning back onto the final straight stretch I hear that awful hissing sound that every cyclist knows and hates. I had a flat front tire. Day over! I was averaging 25.45mph at that point with only 8 miles remaining mostly with a tail wind. Oh well, better luck next time. The good news is that I know I'm finally recovered from being sick. Form is also looking good for next weekend in Erie;-)

I hate flat tires!