Amish Undergarments

-IOWA CITY ROAD RACE-
You know you are getting close to this race when you start to see the horse-drawn buggies on the side of the road. I didn't know, however, how windy it was until I starting seeing the laundry the local amish had hanging on clotheslines literally flying at a 90 degree angle to the ground. The pantiloons were in full sail.

This is a great race, so I wasn't too worried about the wind, except to opt to keep my deep aero rims in the van, to live to fight another day. Yes, the wind, though, was rather a pain, as a decent group of around 20 or so Cat 3's tore off into the first cross wind stretch. Combining a brisk downhill pass with a 30mph wind was making me a bit apprehensive. So I nestled in the back of the pack for a bit, until I started to feel more connected to the bike.

The first lap everyone kept it cool. Then at the start of the second lap, things heated up for a bit. This is when relaxing in the back doesn't work out. So, I reluctantly worked my way up to the front portion of the race. By now, fortunately, I was feeling the groove, and was remembering how much more carefree things are at the front.

Lap number 2 finally calmed down, and everyone re-grouped, though they were softened up a bit. Riders would have attacked more on the uphills, if it weren't for the fierce headwind that smacked anyone who dared try to attack. I overheard a bit of a conversation and the phrase 'sacrificial lamb'. I just happened to be on the front, at the time, which reminded me that we still had a lot of racing left.

As we turned the corner to start the 3rd lap, I was pushing to stay right at the front, in case things heated up again. Brent Mitchell from the 'death squad' chatted a bit, jokingly... "This is the time in the race when Chad Bishop goes off the front on a solo flyer for the win..." I chuckled enjoying the fact that our heart rates were low enough that we could talk, even though this was a great place to attack. He was referring to my success at the Finchford race two weeks prior.

I replied "yes, I'll give it a try" and accelerated. I was just kidding, however, the move felt so smooth, and there was a guy already up ahead having a dig at the hill, so I decided to attack. Little did I know, several other riders had this exact same notion, and a break was formed!

When the smoke settled, and we could verify that we did have a gap, there were seven of us. A lot of teams were still in the group behind, so we agreed to work together, and smoothly rotated through. We had about 20 miles to go, but this was looking good. Bryan and Will from 'Bikes To You' were in the break, the two leaders of the Iowa Cup. Looked like another good result for their team.

Ok, lap 4, we were definately going to finish ahead of the peloton, so I was good to go with at least 7th... too bad the race only paid back 5 places. So, though we had been the best of buddies for almost half the race, at some point we had to go back to being sworn enemies as the finish neared.

The finish was into a head wind and hilly, so I was almost just wanting to get this thing over with. Being new to Cat 3 racing, I had a good result wrapped up, so I was happy. We jockeyed around a bit. Will went on a flyer, as his teamate blocked for a bit. All in all, Will's move worked, as he took another Cat 3 first place (also won in Altoona).

I ended up 6th, so I beat out one guy in our breakaway, though we all basically finished with the same time. Didn't get money, but, I think I got some points towards the Iowa Cup, since only four of us in the break were from Iowa. I raced all last year, and some of this year as a Cat 4 and didn't even come close to getting on that Iowa Cup leader board. I will be very happy, if I finally made it, and in the Cat 3's.

Speaking of that race... Will and Bryan have a huge lead, so calling out Adam Price, Steve Robinson (currently 3rd and 4th), and all other strong Cat 3 riders... if you want a shot at taking home that prize, they are the guys to beat.