Long time, no blog

I am a lazy blogger. I am lazy at other things to, but that's not up for discussion at this time.
I'm not even sure anyone is reading this, so I'm not sure it matters. Of course that's just excuses for more laziness.

Gateway Cup 2008 has come and gone. For those who aren't familiar, Gateway Cup is a weekend long bike race series held each Labor Day weekend in St. Louis. Racers from all over the country come to the Lou to "tear it up". In my case, I only made a slight snag.

Friday night, Tour de Lafayette, was my best race of the weekend. As usual, I arrived to help set up about 5 HOURS before my race. This allowed me to get a good parking spot, help put up the tents, coolers, chairs, trainers and then sit in my anxiety for several more hours. The men's Cat 5 race started at 5pm. We started our trainer warm up at about 7:45. Once nicely warmed up we roll to the starting line for our 8:30 scheduled start, only to be delayed. And Delayed, And Delayed....45 minutes!
The fine details of the race are now gone. what I do remember was a blur of speed, light, darkness. I was at the back more than I like - a trend that would continue all weekend. I was able to move up on a prime lap, with Kate leading out. To my surprize, she did not go for it. After a second of "WTF?!" I went and took 2nd of the 2 place prime (Jamie beat me at the line for the first one); however, the prize was the $260 gift certificate for hair services at Oliver's studio. In the words of Bri, "who wants to be pretty?!?" ME, ME!
On the last lap, I was middle/back of the pack but moved up for the sprint. I threaded the needle between Ruth and Becky, only to have Becky's wheel play grabsies with mine as she stood to sprint. I backed off as she powered forward and we were free. I then kicked it into high gear and took it back from her just before the line. I think I was 9th out of 18 or something like that.

I skipped Saturday's race. The course on Washington Avenue had just been chip and sealed and was to feature a nasty corner (they took it out at the last minute). It was fun to watch the girls go at it and Alice made a strong showing!

Sunday's race was Giro della Montanga on the Hill. AKA Suffer-fest for me. The funniest thing was my pitch to JB about getting Boulevard to take Kate and I on for next year, then I proceed to have my worst race ever in front of him.
My friends and Phil cheered from all around the course. Early on the cheers were "Go, Go!" then, "You can get back on" then "Hang in there" then "It's almost over, just finish!" I got lapped by the 1,2,3 field several times and got lapped by my field at the start finish line with one lap to go.
I finished! 12 out of 12 (a couple girls DNFd).

Monday/Labor Day - U. city loop. Phil, Todd and Brian decided to jump on the Cat 5 race. That took my attention for a while. They were fun to watch. I know Phil wasn't happy with the finish. Apparently, they pulled him but posted him as finishing. Every one was spread out, it was hard to tell where anyone was in relation to everyone else. I think it gave Phil a taste of what crits are like. I am proud of him for doing it. If the girl's races were like the Cat 5 men's, I would still be spectating only.
The women's race was interesting, thanks to several attacks at the same place, after turn 2 on the back climb. After a few attacks, Kate and I fell off. We were working to get back on and would have,except for the $100 prime announced for the Cat 4 women! Oh well. We worked together for a long time. I pulled up the hill on the back side, Kate blocked wind and gave us some speed on the front side. After a while, it was just me and being alone in the head wind sucked (even if it was a down hill). Our field got confusing, due to a break away in our field and several off the back. I lapped a couple of girls but got lapped at some point by our main group. Not sure where I finished here but I enjoyed this race a lot.
My favorite part was working with Kate on the climb and getting water thrown on us by our friends!

Two weeks later, we completed our MS 150 in Memphis. Phil and I did the century loop. This was the first year it was offered. I am glad we did because they ended up canceling Day 2 due to Hurricaine Ike, allowing us to haul back to STL to watch the last stage of the Tour of Missouri.