Brief Cherry Pie Criterium Recap...

The weather was amazing...65 and Sunny. I got to race in shorts & short sleeve jersey. The weather here still gets me, especially when I call my parents back in Chicago and they tell me that it's -3 degrees and 30 below with the windchill.

The course was fun...about a 50-75 foot hill, a 180 at the top and three 90 degree turns...curvy sections throughout. As you can see from the map below (Garmin Data) my finish wasn't where it was supposed to be...if you look at my helmet or carbon bars, you would understand why. :-(I was sitting in great position for the final lap and in the curvy section there was a crash just ahead of me...I threw the brakes on full blast and rode a nose-wheelie for what felt like fifteen feet (as well as slow-motion). It wasn't enough and I buried my front wheel straight into the crashed rider's back, throwing me over the bars.

My team rode aggressively and grabbed a few primes on the way...would have been great if I would have made it to the sprint to contribute.

We stuck around to watch Eric, Jan and Charlie race the P/1/2 race. All 3 did an awesome job in what turned out to be a very fast race. A fairly early breakaway of 9 stayed away till the end, but "Fast Freddie" Rodriguez put in some huge efforts to try to bring them back...Here's a photo of Freddie pushing the pace with Jan in the background.


Next race: Snelling Road Race