Victory!

Friday-
Went down to Burlington yesterday for the road race. 33 miles, dead flat, no wind. It's a total crap shoot. Not going to say much, we averaged 27mph. The race was won by a Cat 4. The finish wide open and anyone who doesn't do much work during the race..wins. Oh well, I knew this was to be expected, and I wasn't involved in any of the sketchy crashes that occurred. Snake Alley is the real race.

Saturday-
Snake Alley, one of the hardest races in the midwest, and on the most crooked street in the world according to Ripley's. Got up this morning at Chad Bishop's house and had some breakfast, watched the Giro d'Italia and got the bikes ready to go. Left for Snake Alley and got there in time for the Cobble Climb. THen just kind of hung out, got sprinkled on a bit. Watched as Dewey road away from the Masters field, Amanda Miller won the Womens race, and is riding so well this year!! Then it was time for our race. 75 riders lined up and I was able to get in the front row. A couple strong teams here with Wheaton having GMac, Sarge, Nick, Addi. Whistle went off and the gauntlet was thrown down, I was able to get 3rd wheel going up Snake as to avoid any carnage. It started to rain during our race and so I was glad I put the 27 on the rear, so I could spin better. After a couple laps we had a group of about 8 riders off the front. Brian West was the only Iowa rider in here with me. Sam Stone (Baraboo Sharks) through off a big attack and went solo for 9 laps. We chased but didn't make up much ground. The course started to dry up and I knew I could use my power to get up the climb. By this time, Shrek had made it back into our group as well. With 2 laps to go, we were catching Sam and so I punched it up the Snake and caught him by the top. When I looked back, it was just Brian, Sam and I so we kept the speed high. Last time up Snake I punched it again and when I was at the top, was alone! I soloed down the decent and won by about 5 seconds over Brian West and Sam.


Setting pace up the Snake!


Setting pace again.


Final Podium. Brian West, Myself, and Sam Stone.

Iowa boys went 1,2!!! It was my second win in as many years at Snake Alley, first in Cat 4's and then Cat 3's this year. Shrek, Jimmy Carrico and Chad Bishop all ended up in the money and it was a good day for Iowa racers!

Another thing that made the day so awesome was Bethany and her parent's came down for the race. We then went out to Applebees after the race!

Tomorrow is Melon City and then Rock Island on Monday. Will have pictures and those posts after the races!