Good times at home...

Went to pick up Marshall from the ATX airport around noon. Rolled out of the garage at 6 pm heading towards the Driveway. Met Mills and Sol + gang on the way and got on time to the Crit - which was frickin' crowded! 76 starters and some really good ones. Colavita + TIME dominated and I was the lucky 4th in the 4-man move. Wamsley (pic above) towed us around the course tonight and I could only hold on to 3rd place. That hurt, but was a good warm-up. Afterwards: Dinner Burrito "as big as your face" at the new Chuy's at W. Cannon & Mopac with Sheri and Marshall.

(Photos © Dave McLaughlin)

A spin at noon at 100°F...then Sheri's home-cooked Italian for lunch, and LOTS of sleep. After that: Game Time! Maybe not the hardest or fastest, but definitely the coolest, spectator-friendliest, and most exciting Crit I've done. Mat Stephens joined in for the fun and the three of us did our best to make make the sprinters work for their money. Knowing that it will end up w/ a 99% chance of a field sprint I tried to get in a move or two but they wouldn't let any group go so I just went hard a few times in order to collect some cash primes. Finished off the pack, but definitely left everything I had on the course this evening. Post-Race? Mhhh, well...post-race dinner at Sullivan's, a Shiner at SIX where a Asian guy paid us $60 (!) to give him our prime-spot table on the upstairs patio...Got home late, with one man M.I.A....:-)

(Photos © Dave McLaughlin)

Water, the wife's homemade waffles, more water, and lots of sleep again. Hot as always these days in Austin. Andrew Willis invited Michael Ball & RockRacing to his super-cool venue at the State Hospital on 41st and Guadalupe - that was already "rock" enough! Technical course, small uphill, 100°F, and a couple of strong teams make the race pretty easy to read: Get in an early move and it will stick to the end. And it did. Tyler Hamilton, Dille, Jittery Joe's guy, and me were off the front after 20minutes and the race was decided by that point. R&R was happy, Super Squadra, too and I thought it was the right combo also.
Okay, gotta say it: Hamilton is a bad-ass bike racer! Races with broken wrist, flats in our crit, gets back on, overcooks the right-hand downhill-turn (I got the unfortunate chance to watch it), and is back in the break two laps later. No matter what, that was simply a bold achievement by him and I'm not sure if anybody else would have kept racing after those happenings.
With 5 to go we all start the cat & mouse game, I try to go on the hill but Jittery Joe Superman and Dille cover. Later Hamilton goes but Dille and me are right on his wheel. Jitter Joe attacks at the start finish twice but that place was too flat to make any selection. Finally Jittery Joe attacks last time up the little hilly part and we all follow and I was just barely able to throw my bike in front of Dille coming into the last turn and held it to the line. Ouch, that hurt!

(Photos © Dan Norton, David de LaFuente, Doug Miller)

Thanks to Marshall and Mat for making it such a cool team of 3, who finished 20th and 19th, respectively on Sunday. And of course to workaholic Barry, who can put on a NRC race, race the P/1, and take down barricades in his chamois one minute after the race finishes. Oh yeah, Andrew Willis should promote races on a bigger scale. If Ball & Co. show up with 4 Escalades, a Team RV, and Truck/Trailer to a Texas Cup Div. 2 eRacing Stigma Crit I'm sure he can work any race in the US :-)