La Primavera @ Lago Vista - Dia No. 1

What a DAY! After some team-breakfast at my house I drove out w/ our newly acquired free agent MARSHALL to the race course, got the cooler where it needed to be, checked the radios and off we were! 13 or 14 (?) laps saddle time were ahead of us. I chilled for the first 6 laps until a quality group of riders (Tilford, Wenger, Velossimo etc.) got away and we had MAT & MAT in there...Well, I knew I needed to be there if I wanted to have an impact on the outcome of the race - so THANKS to the sacrificing way of riding of KOLT BATES and BAM-BAM I got a "Shake'n-Bake" slingshot and bridged to the big group, only towing SURFER NICK with me. Once there, I got to sit in a little longer and just counting down the laps. MAT S. rode superb today, chasing down things 24/7 and keeping the whole thing together. After a brief talk w/ MAT A. I rode 95% max. up the backside hill on lap 4, 3, and 2 to go. The group got down to maybe 12 guys because of that but unfortunately stayed together. In the lull of the moment MAT A. took a hard pull and was GONE w/ one lap to go. Sweet! I knew he had it when I saw him solo way off the front at the "roller-coaster". I let Tilford go knowing that he could bridge up to MAT A. w/ out taking guys with him. With 3/4 lap to go I got the radio out of my jersey pocket (the wires were all over my backside) and encouraged MAT + Tilly to keep it up...telling them to ... Go! In my 245th attempt to do well in a "Texas-Uphill-Finish" I finished 5th from our little chase group, ending up 8th overall, snapping a spoke in the sprint and failing in my quest to beat a Phil Wikoff in a sprint ;-)