Air Force Road Race

Saturday Christine and I drove down to Colorado Springs for the Air Force Academy Road Race. It hurt but it's a great course.

The morning was a little chilly, so I was glad that I had decided to pack some clothing while I warmed up. By the time I lined up at the start line with 3 other teammates it was warm enough for just arm and knee warmers. It was a slow start for me. I felt like a total newbie because I couldn't get my shoe locked into the pedal. After half of the 100 man field cruised by me, I finally got clipped in and I was in for some pain. The race starts on a hill, and the people on the front of the pack wasted no time turning the screws. People were getting ejected from the field left and right and I had to make my way around them to get up to the front. There was a 15 second gap between me and the head of the race by the time I crested the hill. Fortunately I wasn't the only one who got a little stuck behind, and a group of us put in a hellacious effort to catch up a few miles later.

It was a pretty sketchy group. Lot's of erratic breaking, which is always nerve wracking. On the long climbing section of the course someone got a flat and instead of drifting to the back of the field they decided it would be a good idea to swerve to the side of the group across several riders. And they didn't even go to the right side and onto the shoulder. They swerved left into an oncoming traffic lane. I nearly came to a stop after that and I lost contact with the group again. This time, I didn't have the strength to get back on. Ugh. Frustrating.

What's more frustrating was the corner marshal that sent our chase group the wrong way. I'm not exactly sure what he was thinking, but he managed to send several other groups the correct direction all day before sending our group the wrong way. There's a nice way to make sure you're *really* out of the race.

Afterward we met up with Livia and Carol which is always a good time. I like it when Livia has to explain some piece of American slang to Carol (the French Canadian). Sunday he learned that "doodie" is childish slang for "poo" (which is childish slang for "shit"). Ha!