Overall, I must say, this race was run very well. With the exception of a bit of a delay during the Criterium stage, the race went very smoothly. Hats off to Joe and South Lyon Cycles for making an already great race even greater.
Stage 1: First of all, I went into this race completely unprepared. Because I missed pre-registration a week earlier, I had not even found out I was going to be able to race until the day before. The prologue was a short 2.7 mile TT. I decided to try using Ray Dybowski’s TT bike. I had about ten minutes to warm up on it and get used to it’s position and handling. I ended up running a 5:34…not quite enough to contest even top 20. Ironically, Ray ended up with the same time as well (down to the tenth of a second). I simply concluded that this was the fastest the bike could go and if we wanted to run a faster TT, we would need a new bike.
Stage 2: This crit was so fast; I don’t even remember much of it. I recall being in an early break and winning the first prime…the rest of the race is a blur. I finished at the tail end of the field. However, after the race everyone was coming up to me and congratulating me. I kept asking for what? They replied that when I won the first prime the announcer announced that I had just closed on my first house the day before and got engaged! The first was true; the second was not…I’m not sure where he got his sources. No engagement yet.
Stage 3: This race was great! The only thing that could of made it better was about 50 more miles. Priority Health controlled the entire day keeping their yellow jersey (Graham Howard) safe and sound. I felt I was very attentive and active this entire race. I made it in three different breaks, but Priority was not having it. However, towards the end of the race a break developed with myself, Dan Klein, Steve Clark and Jim Regan of Saturn, Graham Howard (the yellow jersey), and Tom Archer of Lathrup/Ford. It was fun to be riding in a break with my own teammate and the horsepower that seemed able to last. However, Graham sat up and Priority re-staked control quickly. The race ended in a field sprint with Ben Renkema of West Coast Riders winning it. Way to go Ben, you are this weeks recipient of the “Who Cares, I’m Flying Award”. I ended up in 20th for the stage and 34th out of 80 overall in the GC.
On a more somber note, our teammate Robbie Dobbie had crashed in the final stage breaking his collarbone. Lets wish for a fast recovery for him so he can start winning some field sprints.
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