John Wolters and I took an early Metra up, arriving in downtown at 8:20. Carrying my bike with my race wheels zip-tied to the back of my Chromebag, $7 and change is not a bad price at all to get to a race. We chilled at a pretty nice coffee shop on 6th street, of which I can't remember the name.
They had really good coffee (Alterra, Milwaukee's answer to Intelligentsia) and tasty breakfast sandwiches. Also on the menu was key lime and sweet potato pie, of which I made a mental to note to include in my recovery routine after the race.
John picked up a $20 paycheck in the 4/5s and then I met Greta, her sister Nadia, and fellow paralympian Matt Bigos in the parking lot just north of the start/finish. I got a solid warm up on Greta's rollers, sugared up, and then took a few laps, scouting out the field and seeing who I recognized.
Ernesto from Van Wagner had apparently upgraded with me, and I also recognized Marc Howe from Geargrinder, who was the points leader in the 3 for Superweek. Voytek from ABD was there as well, but otherwise, a complete bunch of strangers. I'd been getting quite used to seeing familiar faces in the 4s lately, and being able to trust a lot of wheels when the shit got thick.
It was a good first race for me.
I was solo, so I started off at the back and let the early attacks soften up the field. The wind was pretty vicious right after turn 3 and it continued across the field through the home stretch. Nothing was getting off just yet.
I bridged a few gaps, took a flyer, got in a short break of my own. I was active and it felt pretty good, stretching my legs like that:
It was all together with 5 laps to go when dudes started riding into me in the corners. I had flashbacks to last year's horrific crash in the 3s sprint, and right there I phoned it in. I'm not proud of it, but I don't regret it. Everyone did stay up right but more importantly so did I, and I've got a lot more important races to contest before the season is over.
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