2:03:03

 The 2012 edition of the Albany race weekend. Two hours, three minutes, three seconds. Felt more like twenty hours. 5th place for the TT, missed the podium by a second. Short 2.3 mile course, twisty, and three inches of water in the turns. Very tight race. 9th place for the crit, Heavy rain all day...made the break, but one guy went down right in front of me. Sending me off coarse, past a white Lexus, and shooting the gap between a light-post, and a big oak tree. Bunny-hopping the curb, then back on coarse. When I recovered, the break was already around turn four. FRENCH TOAST! I yelled...Six laps to go stuck in the middle. I held on for 9th. 20 seconds in front of the group. Good for second place overall.

 Sundays road race, new day with no rain, but wind gusts up to 30mph was reported. The starting road was very narrow, and with 66 Cat-5 racers it was a nervous first few miles. Buck and one other guy took off for about a six mile break. It worked out good because the chase caused some fifteen riders getting dropped. Soon as we all settled down, another attack, and three guys got away. I thought about joining the break, than I thought about staying with the first place guy. Who I had marked earlier on. I remember thinking "I can still bridge that gap"....but cooler heads prevailed, or was I just chicken. All this thought processing took place in about a half a second. Must be the amino acids....The race was 34 miles long and at 24 the pace started to get really ramped up. I kept myself close to the front for the whole race to ensure I wouldn't get stuck behind everyone. I did more work than I should have (and Buck reminded me of that) but Team Doulos and Team Big Ring worked well together to keep John Eddlemon and me out of the wind. John got 3rd overall. We ended up dropping the competition, we swallowed up two of the break, but Nathan Robinson stayed away for a solo victory, two minute gap. Impressive! I finished with my first podium on a road bike. 1st place for the overall.
 Side note: Buck is my man! A few times I got hung out in that horrible wind, and Buck immediately had me covered. He turned himself inside-out to protect me, covered all attacks, and brought them back. Buck, "you da man". And with all sincerity....SEMPER FI
....Later