1st loser?

photo by Glyn Taylor

2nd place, or, the "1st loser" spot on the podium at the Wente Crit.

Admittedly its a strange result. The beauty of a second place finish is that it can fire you up to do one better, to analyze what went right and wrong and what you might have done differently.

Bubba Melcher (Clover) went for the first prime of the race (6 minutes into a 45 minute race) so I just had to follow that move. I pipped him at the line for a nice $50 Wente Gift Certificate! and we had a gap so we rolled. Wisely Bubba and I waited for a Morgan Stanley and VOS rider so that our break might have a better chance. When Joe Saunders (MS) and Rich Juarez (VOS) joined us we were off to the races. Establishing the gap was the hard part (~2:35 laps), then things started to smooth out (~2:40 laps), but then the attacks started coming and we slowed (~2:45 laps) and the pack was on our heals. Joe had been dropped in one of Bubba's explosive attacks, so Morgan Stanley was chasing hard. Both Budda and Rich had teammates in the field and they played that card well. I was alone against 99 riders so I got a bit impatient and ended up leading it out too soon and got nipped at the line by Bubba.

Sad about not winning? Nah, I love this sport!