Soldiering On

Soldier Field Series, Race #2, 1 July

Totally not feeling the race vibe...Wednesday night. huh? I didn't even get caffeinated for this one. This is why I never get jazzed to go to the track either.

Get there in time to root for Christina. Molly's out with a little bump and run from work. Christina has a good spot after the back stretch, but Jeannette Rho from French Bulldogs came wide around her and grabbed the win.

Barely warm up, still don't feel the vibe but fortunately it kicked in by lap 3. Waitlisted, pinned up seconds before rollout, back row start. How am I going to get up there in all these curves? Find a secret slot in each lap and grab spots, the pace thins out the field and I'm sitting top 5.

Michael Young and maybe Liam? from xXx were up front. I was convinced they would try a punch/counterpunch with every escape attempt, so I sat in at third wheel and covered every one of their launches. At one point, there were 4-5 of us stretching the pace, I put in a solid dig, and we just about had a gap, but each of these guys didn't seem to facilitate the other getting away. Maybe they don't have a plan after all? Granted the 50 foot wide backstretch wasn't conducive to blocking.

It was raining burrito primes, and I wasn't hungry. Sitting in second for a few of them, little goes off and nothing sticks. Brean up there, second in a prime, maybe they'll slip away, but again, nobody wants to escape, they just seem to be looking for burritos instead of securing a spot in the top 5.

I realize with a few to go that we're destined for a bunch gallop at the line, so I back off. They start throwing burrito primes every lap, two and three deep, and this brings out the piranhas. Still no effort to get away on anyone's part. We're all eyeing each other and nobody gets out the shovel to dig.

One guy in third wheel slides out on the final lap, going into the straight, but amazingly no one goes with him. Usually a half lap before the line I'm going backwards on account of riding aggressively all race, but this time...not so much. Not a bad feeling, but still not in a great position to contend for the podium, so I just focus on staying out of trouble. The last couple corners always bring out the bozos, and I'm not about to eat shit in a battle for 8th. Still had a bit of kick left in my legs after the final turn (also a new feeling) but it's a short stretch and there's a wall of faders in front of me, so I thread the needle for 13th. eh. Not too disappionted about it, since I just came to ride aggressively and press the legs. Mission Accomplished.

Brean gets 11th, but he is banged up, so he's ok with that. Courier/cat fiver Al "Roadhouse" Pearson gets 6th, racing in a PBR t-shirt after putting in a day's work. I like that. His third top ten in four races.

Tequila girls (no samples though), a free t-shirt, zero dollars in gas money. Not a bad race, considering it was a parking lot. Say what you may about the Olympic effort, at least it's making the city play nice when it comes to throwing sporting events.