Stage 3 - Minneapolis Downtown Classic

Friday, June 10, 2005

With a 7:45pm start time, I enjoyed a bike ride of my own and it was the nicest riding I've done since I moved to Minnesota. Plymouth, and the surrounding areas of Medina, Maple Grove (or was that Maplewood? It was Maple-something), is full of gentle rolling hills along pristinely paved roads (smooth as glass), and million dollar homes. It reminds me of Woodside with good pavement. The day began with rain, but it cleared up just in time for me to get a ride in.

Last year, this race had it's fair share of weather excitement. This year was following suite---or so it seemed. I met the guys at Bob's (one of our host's houses), and since parking can be such a bear downtown, we all went in the team van. I called a "shoe-check", and a "helmet check" before we left....Now I'll have to remember to include "jersey check".

Erik, Roman, Jason and I found a Dunn's coffee shop and got a quick fix before the race. Then the guys went to change. Erik, discovers that he left his jersey at the house. So, 45 minutes from the starting gate and I am back at reg to get him new numbers, while he is cutting the sleeves off of a winter long sleeve jersey. It may have rained...but it was warm.

Dan grabbed our wheels and headed to the pit; I grabbed a radio and headed to the start/finish; the McGuire-Langdale racer's headed to the start-line. Stars and Stripes sung, bell rung, and they're off on nice and dried up roads to a fully lined with people "L" shaped course in downtown Minneapolis for 60 minutes of racing fun.

And suffering. I watched part of the women's race, and it is amazing how FAST the boys go in comparison. Awesome. After they'd warmed up a bit...the schmack started going down. In other words, Danny Pate (Jelly Belly/Poolgel) was DRILLING it at the front. This guy is on fire even after racing hard a week ago in Philadelphia.

About 3-4 laps from the finish, I see my guys (Matt and Erik) working their way up. Jason started near the back of the race, like Mike did last year and this is such a hard course to move up in. Anyway, before the last sprint "point" lap, I see Matt riding off the front as the bell was rung. Just drilling it...Dubberly-style. Suddenly my radio spazzes out. Hmmm?

The "spaz" was the result of a BIG crash! Going around corner 1 of the course, a spectator was inside the barrier right on the turn, Matt could have either taken out the "misplaced fan", or crash himself. Given that he was off the front of the race...and on a corner...well you can figure out what happened to the front of the race. Saunders and Roman went down, but Devon and Pat avoided the pavement. Erik got back up a raced. Other guys didn't listen to officials and gave themselves a free lap (not allowed this late in the game...I won't mention names...but they were race leaders...maybe even a yellow jersey wearer?)

Our guys were cut up, bloody and scraped---but they toughed it out and all got finish times. (I was up all night talking with officials to get Erik's time fair. His time should have been the same time given to yellow jersey. Actually better---he got up off his bike and kept racing. It wasn't until the late Thursday night that the officials finally adjusted his GC time, putting him @ 18th overall (as opposed to 36th)...