Author

Nikos Hessert on Apr 13, 2013

Race name: Lincoln Park & John Fraser Memorial TT Race date: Saturday, Apr 13, 2013

3-for-3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGXzlRoNtHU

Let me say first and foremost thank you to my teammates, specifically Aaron Delabre and Byron Knoll (sorry if I misspelled that), and also to Adam Herndon and Rob Curtis for being the best announcing team ever (Rob's wheels aren't half-bad either). Now without further ado, lets get race reporting!

Win #1: Juniors 15-18: It's a Trap!!!!

It was a very small field, probably due to the snowy, Milan-Sanremo-esque conditions (yes I have now unofficially won a spring classic). It ended up being 6 xXx juniors Vs 2 from our rival gang, the 87th street Chicago Velo Campus (little did they know they had fallen into a trap). The race played out very quickly. Ben attacked and got away, CVC chased hard for a bit, but unable to catch Ben "the fighting Irish" O'Malley pulled off, then I attacked and bridged. The next lap we got Kyle with us and about a minute gap on the CVC, we all sat up (CVC too), and discussed who would win the race. All Ben wanted was a podium sweep, and we had that, so I gave Ben and Kyle each a prime and took the win. as Rob Whittier told me after the race "thank you for the most boring finish ever".

Win #2: Cat 4: Shrek Wins!

Ahhhh, the NikosAttack(tm) possibly the most stupid and yet somehow effective tool in my arsenal (and the only one). It's pretty simple: I attack from the gun....and that's it. Anyway, that's what I did in the fours race. I had a hole shot worthy of any cyclocross race as I took off with the fury of Shrek after Donkey tried to make waffles in his ogre hut. Anyway, I had a good gap after lap one, and won the prime Adam had decided to put on the first lap before the race "so Nikos will be able to win something" Aaron Delabre and Byron then got up to the front and blocked hard. Delabre ended up then winning the $50 field prime announced on the second lap, and my gap was already up to 30 seconds. As I rode deeper and deeper into the pain cave, increasingly having to remember rule #5*, I was encouraged by a very ecstatic Ben O'Malley, and my personal photographer for the day, Max Ryan (who later complained I never gave him any chance to get shots of the pack), as well as a more and more excited Adam Herndon, even more motivating with a microphone, and every single course marshal. Thanks to Delabre and Byron blocking back in the pack, there was no chase whatsoever, just me avoiding many opportunities to use my other tactic: crashing badly for no apparent reason. With 4-5 laps to go, I had about a 40 second gap, and by two to go, I was fist pumping the air as

I went by the spectators. As I came across the Finish line, it still hadn't hit me that i had won. It wasn't until halfway through the cool down lap that it struck me: "holy s***, i just won in a solo break from the gun". As I finished my cool down lap, I saw Ben and Max running toward me from the pace car. I immediately grabbed both of them in an overenthusiastic bear hug, accidentally backhanding Max's very nice camera (yes, even in my moments of glory i'm still Shrek and a huge klutz, at least the camera was fine). I repeatedly thanked my teammates, cooled down, and consumed approximately 45.6 billion donuts, which Ben had knowingly grabbed immediately.

Win #3: John Fraser Memorial TT: Wait, I Thought I Just Did This Yesterday!

This time however, I had a much more well equipped bike. In a huge (some might say ill-advised, given my history with the ground) show of confidence by my amazing mentor, Bill Barnes lent me his rocket ship of a tt bike. At the tt, having never ridden an actual tt bike before, I was shaky in the huge crosswinds, but still managed to easily take the 4's by a comfortable 18 seconds over an only 9.3 mile TT course (a time that would have put me 5th in the 3's). Bill's bike went like a bat out of hell though. I felt like a fighter pilot the whole time, and I definitely didn't make machine gun noises when I passed riders ;( Thanks to a tailwind over the second half, and the coolest not-my-new-tk1 bike I've ever ridden, I had a great day, and rounded out a great, undefeated weekend.

(why can i write this effortlessly, but cant get an essay done to save my life?)

*Rule #5: HTFU (Harden The F*** UP)