Makin' money

Yesterday was the best race I've had since I got here. I told they guys as we were pulling up "Let's make some money today". Well I wasn't about to walk away empty handed. Not only did I finish the race, all 14 laps (114 km) of it, but I snagged up some money in a prime sprint. I really didn't know it was a prime, all I knew was that a move was going up the road and I wasn't going to let that go without me, well I came through 2nd place at that point. When I came through, they were waiving the white flag and shouting over the PA system about a prime, then my name, and the guy in front sat up. Usually I would attack at that point, but I didn't exactly know what was going on, so I waited for the peloton too.

After that it was a series of attacks and counter attacks. Our team made sure one of us was in the move. If I wasn't going with something, someone else was. It was a lot more fun playing an aggressive role than just waiting for the race to finish. It hurt, don't get me wrong. There a few times I thought I done for. On one of the laps I had to push so hard to keep the field together that I started to crack. This was an hour and a half into the race. As I was fading back a bit, my teammate rode by and said "Don't quit now, stay with it" and that was all it took. I jumped back into shelter, and rested for a lap or two, then I was back to attacking.

When the split happened at 5 to go, I was in no shape to jump with it, but I had two teammates that were so they got away. I relaxed and hung on for the finish placing 56th of 125 (at least) starters. Not too shabby. I at least know now that I am fully capable of a result, and now I just need to make that split and get into the top 10. UCI races are just around the corner, rumor has it that I will be selected here very soon.