Cycling in Winnesota.

When me and my dad pulled into the parking lot of the Frederic high school I was in schock from all of the bling bling that I saw. There were no less than 4 Cervelo p3 carbon time trial bikes rolling around the start area. I was certainly glad not to be doing the time trial. Anyway It was 46 degrees out when the race started so I was all bundled up in arm warmers and knee warmers. My backside was still a little sore from riding all this week but other than that I was ready to go. I lined up towards the front and the pace started off realy easy. after less than a mile the attacks started to come though. Two guys from Grand Performance broke before the ten mile mark and no one dared chase them down. There were many other attempts but none were successful. I was active in chasing down just about every break and ended up towing the pack quite a few times, a new experience for me. I got sandwiched inbetween two riders at about mile 20 and almost went down. I was blown out of my pedal but amazingly recovered. Apparently a few riders went down at about mile 30 and were taken away in an ambulance. I was out of harms way toward the front of the pack when it happened. A grand performance rider on a $6,000 Orbea with zipp wheels broke off solo at about mile 25 and I chased him down. He told me to pull through but I barely had any legs left so the pack caught us before we really had a chance. I stayed toward the front of the pack for the rest of the race. One of the last climbs left me a little short of breath and I lost about 10 positions. Before I knew it I could see the finish and was unable to break through the pakc. I managed to pull off of the side and sprint in for a 12th place overall and a second in my age category. If I had payed better attention I could have dusted most of those punks, but thats road racing I guess. I learned something today, it ain't the cost of your bike that determines how fast you are its how big your motor is. Just because you have the equipment doesn't mean that you have the engine!