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Henderson TT (MN ROY) Henderson, MN Saturday, September 9th. Man, for some reason this event kicks my butt. Don’t get me wrong, the course is great. Nice roads and a rolling out and back but I just never put a race together here. I get good feelings from the area as I won a road stage of the Tour of 10,000 Lakes a few years back but this TT has got me baffled. Maybe it’s the level of racers who show up and I’m a little intimidated by them or the wind or the hills, I don’t know. Today was colder, overcast with a slight breeze. I got a start number that had me going off near the end and I managed a good warm up. I arrived at the start and saw that Gordy was 3 spots behind me. I didn’t want to get caught by the legend so that was extra motivation to keep the pedals going. I believe Dan Casper was a spot behind him and he’s very fast as well so I had my work cut out for sure! I will concentrate on my race but would use them as fuel to help me go that little extra. I busted out of the gate pretty hard and overtook a few slower riders. About a quarter of the way through I was starting to find a really good rhythm and thought that if I could ride these sections with the slight head wind strong I’d be in good shape when I turned at the half way point. I had a good turn and coming back tried to see how I was doing against Gordy and Dan. It looked pretty even but they both might have taken some seconds from me at that point. It was hard to tell. I crested the steepest hill shortly after the turn around and started to hear some creaking on the bike. I didn’t know what it was but soon it became louder and worse. So much so that I began to focus on what was wrong with the bike and would it even hold up to the finish. It didn’t ruin my race but I’ll admit I lost concentration. It was soon so loud that people heard me coming from a ways away as I continued passing them. I made it across the line with a good time and the bike didn’t die on me. I ended up posting the 6th or 7th best time overall of the day and was first in Category 3. I won a few bucks and ended up buying some nice t-shirts after the event. I hooked up with Gordy & Diane, Gregg Pouch and a girlfriend of his, and Dan Casper’s wife for some food at a really nice restaurant in town. Dan would have been there but he’s a fireman in Minneapolis and had to get back to work. Maybe next year I’ll put a great race together and move up a few spots? Big THANKS to Jay Henderson and Hollywood Cycles for putting on the event.
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This site was last updated on: June 28, 2010 01:56:28 PM -0500 |