Show Me The Money!

I'm back. Yes, it's been a while, and I appreciate the thousands of e-mails, phone calls, drive-by's and visits, to check up on my welfare, and see if The Turtle was still alive. OK, maybe not THOUSANDS, but who is really counting past two.

Actually, I have been busy, and in kind of a "funk" you could call it as of lately. I have a lot going on at work, training, racing etc. I actually took the past two weekends off of racing, after racing 9 weekends in a row, I was a little toasty. The Turtle was "Turtle Soup" you could say.

I did OK in the Elgin Criteriums, raced hard, finished with a 7th place in the masters 30+ and somewhere in the field for the cat 3's. These two races were the hardest of the year, averaging over 265 watts and over 27 mph for both races, whew! Spending some time at home & Quincy, IL. last weekend visiting my in-laws & training. It was a really nice break. With 27 races in for the year, and another ten or so on the calendar, it was well deserved.

Jumped back into it yesterday with the Illinois State Road Race Championships held in Oak Brook, IL. This is a new venue, consisting of a 3.2 mile course, a couple of power hills, and a 3/4 mile long finishing stretch. Did the cat 3 event, 48 miles of pretty fast. We averaged 25.2 mph at a average wattage of 212. Not too shabby. The hills, which we had to do 15 times each wore me down a little. The Turtle does not like hills, as his power to girth ratio is not that great. Plus, turtles are very low to the ground, with short legs and wide bodies. This is a genetic disadvantage. Top all of that with the fact that I have LCS, or Low-Cadence Syndrome, and you get the point.
Every time we hit the hills, I would ask myself. WWED? As in, what would Edgar do? You know Edgar, president of my fan club and my alter ego, like Tyler Durden in Fight Club. Well, Edgar would give 100%, every time, regardless of the outcome. So, that's what I did, until the final lap.

Just before the final turn, there is the last hill. We were drilling it, single file, I pushed on, came through the final turn in about 30th place. I fought on, 110% bridging from group to group ahead of me. I put it in a 53x11, and drilled as hard as I could. For the first time this year in a race, I was actually PASSING people to the finish. I met the lead pack about 150 meters from the line, sprinted and passed a couple of more people and got 10th place! I know, it's the 9th loser, BUT, I humped butt, and did it. I felt great about that result.

So, I went to verify the result, and asked how deep is the payout? 10 places! Whoo-hoo! I actually get PAID for doing this? I got a check for $20! After I tallied up my expenses, entry fees, gas money, damaged & worn out bike parts etc. I am only in the hole $14,556.77 in cycling expenses for the year! Show Me The Money!