SuperWeek Day Two
Day Two landed in Menasha, WI
After a bad show in the opening day, I had to represent and ride well for the team and myself. So today I made it a point to start in the front unlike I did the first day. The race started off very fast with lots of attacks. I wanted to ride in the front to win some cash primes and maybe set up for the red jersey. It’s so easy to loose position in these races because everyone likes to dive the inside no matter where you are in the pack. During the race Alex Candelario and I talked about how it’s so funny when a guy dives the inside on you when you are riding in the last 60 guys. It’s dangerous and uncalled for. After the first sprint point I was out of position to contest the sprint, however Eric Saunders and Devon didn’t realize I wasn’t on the wheel and drilled it for one full lap, leading out another team. The second sprint, I made sure I didn’t let the team down and followed the wheels.
We had Colin on the front followed by Eric and I with 4 laps to go till the points sprint. Eric is going crazy yelling to pull harder but Colin was tapped out. I remember Eric saying…Put it in an F*/$ing big gear and go. I laughed because we were going really slowly. Colin then pulled off and let Eric come through with 3 laps to go from the sprint jersey sprint and surprisingly he got back on Eric’s wheel but only to pull off after Eric took a whole lap pull. I couldn’t believe that Colin pulled out of the lead-out right in front of me also right in front of the start finish line with 2 laps to go for the sprint. Eric then drilled it and I stayed in position to win some points. Coming around the last sweeping corner about 400m from the finish I opened up a killer sprint. I had one more guy to pass for the first place points…Andy the Volcano Carder and as I was sprinting up his left side, he saw me coming and made a left hand turn. To protect myself from crashing I shoved him out the way and yelled at him at the same time. Andy was relegated to second because he made an illegal move. Andy apologized and said he thought I was one of the Endeavour guys. Besides Eric, I’m the only black soul out there, so I knew he was full of it.
After the sprint I blacked out for a second and had a hard time breathing. There was a point where I almost bagged it and called it quits, but I knew I was better than that. So I suffered at the back of the pack for about 15 laps, slowly moving my way to the front for the finish.
The finish if 17 laps away and there is a group of 15 guys off the front. I was proud of Eric and Devon, they got on the front for about 5 laps and got the break back with about 3 laps to go. If we had one more guy to close the deal, we would have set up for a stage win. Two guys from the group of 15 stayed away to take the first two spots and I was punked and head butted by Dave McCook on the back side and I lost my position to win the field sprint but stilled muscled it out to get tope 10. No more being mister nice guy anymore, I must get dirty just like they are to me.
Till next time…ride it till the wheels fall off
TOP TEN
Place-Name Team Hometown
1.Karl Menzies Advantage Benefits/Endeavour Australia
2.Dennis Haueissen Team RSHGera, Germany
3.Jose Serpa Colombian National Team Colombia
4.David McCook Jelly Belly/PoolGel San Jose, CA
5.Alexander Candelario Jelly Belly/PoolGel Boulder, CO
6.Richard England Advantage Benefits/Endeavour Australia
7.Rahsaan Bahati McGuire/Langdale Pro CT Los Angeles, CA
8.Hilton Clarke Navigators Insurance Australia,
9.Carlos Vargas TeamMonex Colombia
11.Emile Abraham Team Monex Trinidad & Tobago
After a bad show in the opening day, I had to represent and ride well for the team and myself. So today I made it a point to start in the front unlike I did the first day. The race started off very fast with lots of attacks. I wanted to ride in the front to win some cash primes and maybe set up for the red jersey. It’s so easy to loose position in these races because everyone likes to dive the inside no matter where you are in the pack. During the race Alex Candelario and I talked about how it’s so funny when a guy dives the inside on you when you are riding in the last 60 guys. It’s dangerous and uncalled for. After the first sprint point I was out of position to contest the sprint, however Eric Saunders and Devon didn’t realize I wasn’t on the wheel and drilled it for one full lap, leading out another team. The second sprint, I made sure I didn’t let the team down and followed the wheels.
We had Colin on the front followed by Eric and I with 4 laps to go till the points sprint. Eric is going crazy yelling to pull harder but Colin was tapped out. I remember Eric saying…Put it in an F*/$ing big gear and go. I laughed because we were going really slowly. Colin then pulled off and let Eric come through with 3 laps to go from the sprint jersey sprint and surprisingly he got back on Eric’s wheel but only to pull off after Eric took a whole lap pull. I couldn’t believe that Colin pulled out of the lead-out right in front of me also right in front of the start finish line with 2 laps to go for the sprint. Eric then drilled it and I stayed in position to win some points. Coming around the last sweeping corner about 400m from the finish I opened up a killer sprint. I had one more guy to pass for the first place points…Andy the Volcano Carder and as I was sprinting up his left side, he saw me coming and made a left hand turn. To protect myself from crashing I shoved him out the way and yelled at him at the same time. Andy was relegated to second because he made an illegal move. Andy apologized and said he thought I was one of the Endeavour guys. Besides Eric, I’m the only black soul out there, so I knew he was full of it.
After the sprint I blacked out for a second and had a hard time breathing. There was a point where I almost bagged it and called it quits, but I knew I was better than that. So I suffered at the back of the pack for about 15 laps, slowly moving my way to the front for the finish.
The finish if 17 laps away and there is a group of 15 guys off the front. I was proud of Eric and Devon, they got on the front for about 5 laps and got the break back with about 3 laps to go. If we had one more guy to close the deal, we would have set up for a stage win. Two guys from the group of 15 stayed away to take the first two spots and I was punked and head butted by Dave McCook on the back side and I lost my position to win the field sprint but stilled muscled it out to get tope 10. No more being mister nice guy anymore, I must get dirty just like they are to me.
Till next time…ride it till the wheels fall off
TOP TEN
Place-Name Team Hometown
1.Karl Menzies Advantage Benefits/Endeavour Australia
2.Dennis Haueissen Team RSHGera, Germany
3.Jose Serpa Colombian National Team Colombia
4.David McCook Jelly Belly/PoolGel San Jose, CA
5.Alexander Candelario Jelly Belly/PoolGel Boulder, CO
6.Richard England Advantage Benefits/Endeavour Australia
7.Rahsaan Bahati McGuire/Langdale Pro CT Los Angeles, CA
8.Hilton Clarke Navigators Insurance Australia,
9.Carlos Vargas TeamMonex Colombia
11.Emile Abraham Team Monex Trinidad & Tobago
posted by Rahsaan Bahati @ 9:54 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home