5/13/2002 by Denis Osowski
It rained. And then....it rained. Then it rained some more. Then it kept on raining. Did I mention that it rained. There was even lighting, thunder, and fog for atmosphere. Gotta love it, eh? For those who stayed home.....excellent choice.
As for the 1-2-3 race......I thought if you downgrade to a "3" then the races got a little more manageable? Must've been some bad information. About 25 to 30 started....all the serious contenders....very little fluff. Right away Batke, Brambruger, and some other guy got off the front about a mile into the race....and then proceeded to stay away to the end. At the end of lap 3(?) Tris Hopkins threw down a hard attack on the large hill but then came the moment everyone was waiting for .... Paul Martin decided it was time to use his patented "jump-from-field-and-bridge-up-to-the-lead-group move" (as Tris put it). Allow me to re-phrase that as Paul's patented "rip-your-legs-off-while-I-jump-from-the-field-and-bridge-up-to-the-lead-group move". Much of the field shattered going up the large hill and on the false flat past s/f. Paul stayed on the gas hard through the back section and just rode everyone off his wheel. Give the guy a little terrain and he'll do that to you. I managed to hang on until about half way through the back section until my legs cried, "no mas"! Funny though, my heart rate wasn't that high but the legs just wouldn't go.....what's up with that? One other guy did manage to go with Paul and they made the bridge. As I was riding just to finish the thing, the lead group of 5 lapped me on the back section of the last lap...just in time for me to see Paul rip off the front of the break group on his way to the win. Spectators said that by the last time up the large hill there was no real field left but just groups of 2 or 3 going for the finish. As for me, I came in at about 13th(?) ... of course all you had to do was finish for 13th but I guess that's better than about the other half of the field who didn't finish at all.
Better days are coming....at least dryer ones, I hope.