Squash Blossom

Here is a little pic of my favorite Gallup critter. Did anyone see one of these fellers on the MTB trail over the weekend?
Anyhow---

I had the best time ridin my bike this weekend. The community of 4 corners cyclist are the BEST!! I was regulated to the "A" group for the first time and I was a little nervous. I figured I was in for the coveted "lantern rouge" award. If ya dont know what that is you need to watch more bike racin, cause i ant tellin. Anyhoo, the road race was pretty mellow all in all. I only heard the F bomb once and it was not even directed at me. So, we rolled pretty slow for the most part and someone would go to the front and have a dig bout every mile or so to keep things interestin. No one seemed too concerned with the breakaways--which was fine with me. I was surprised that everyone let Shriver and Randy C go up the road. But, up the road they went and everyone was cool with that. Things went well until the turn around and I got shelled a bit and worried that I would never see the pack again. However, there were a few folks that got shelled along with me. So, we worked togeather and caught back up. BIG PROPS go the the colivita olive oil dude that encouraged us to keep up the effort and reel in the pack! After that little scare I just sat on the back all the way til the last little rollers. Then, with my eyes on the prize i sat up a little at the end. I was just happy to make it back home, cause for a while there I thought I might be doing a time trial from the turn around. In addition, the pack was full of solid riders. There was not any sketchy movements going on---a little different from the cat 4 races. These fellers were solid and i didnt feel any nervous energy it that pack. I been avoiding road racing all summer because I was a little afraid of the "A's" but it was groovy and now im inspired. Bring on da cyclocross!!