Mingo, Mango, Mumba

Sunday rolled around to see me lining up at yet another Mingo Road race. Cold weather, raining and a steady wind, how fun! These races are a great learning tool for me. Since I never road race enough to upgrade a license (stuck w/a 4) I never do them because of the possibility of getting hurt and effecting my true loyalty to Fisher & the 29er Crew.
But somehow I manage to slide in (accepted by the race promoter) to the Cat 1/2/3 event and the risk of injury lessens because these individuals have had to race in large groups in order to earn the Cat 3 or above status.

This weeks race was missing a few riders but never the less a nice group of 1/2/3 racer where at the start line including my good friend Tim Lyons (Freddie Fu Racing). Tim treated me like his personal intern softly shouting orders to me explaining where and what I should be doing. To bad he flatted out in the first 1/2 mile but lucky for me they let him back in on our start of the 2nd lap with the restriction of doing nothing to help or hinder the group, meaning he couldn't pull or get in any ones way. He could however school me on the ways of a roadie & school me he did!

Travis get up there, Travis pay attention to those two, Your wheel should be behind their wheel, when one of those guys break you need to be with them, Travis don't do anything to kill yourself, sit in here, get ready it looks like "go" time. So I rode around a lap or 2 sprinting to someone wheel as they tried to make breaks but once they noticed it was unsuccessful they returned back to the group. Finally on the 4th lap a guy made a break on the small hill and I targeted his rear wheel like a buzzard on a gut wagon., only then he turned and said something about a teammate and he started to slow down. I'm a newbie so I pulled of his wheel and sat up only to see his teammate scream by and pull him off in front of me. I tried to bridge the small gap but working by myself was impossible as I watched them ride off. Hell with it here I am out front of the group riding solo maybe I can make it stick for awhile before getting swallowed up in the group pursuing me. Around the start finish and I see my gap growing so my mtb instinct starts to take over & I find myself wanting to make this solo thing last but with 2 more laps to go it sounds impossible to me. Worst thing that could happen? I get caught, right?, right!

I buckled down and started concentrating on a steady rhythm (no thanks to any music, road races don't allow mp3 players- how boring). Next I hear the bell and still no group behind me in sight. Excellent I did it, I pulled off a solo break in the Cat 1/2/3 and finished up with 4th Place!

Thanks to Don Mosites, Gary Bywaters, Fisher Bikes, Tim Lyons for the instructions & Lunch @ Moes & Especially Bontrager Components (my new race Xlite road wheels)

I couldn't believe the differance I noticed between these new wheels and my existing Mavic Open Pros that are laced to a King Classic Hub. These wheels seemed to freespin effortlessly and something tells me they had something to do with my success this past weekend. They felt fast, stiff & very smooth which are all good qualities!

stork