Author

Bill Barnes on Sep 3, 2010

Race name: Gateway Cup Series, Stage 1 Race date: Friday, Sep 3, 2010

After driving 5 hours to St. Louis, we (Tracy D, Sue W, and myself) got registered and kitted up for the first of a four day series. The first race was a fairly straightforward square 4 turn crit with a minor climb on the back side, a descent into turn three, and a field of about 90 racers in the cat 4!

I barely made the race due to having to wait for a few families to use the uh, facilities right before the race, and rolled up to see Jared had arrived, Tracy D was in formation, and I had about 1 minute before the whistle. From the start it took off fairly casual, the downhill after turn 1 being straight into the blinding sun, which dipped below the trees about a solid second before turn 2 came on at 27mph or so. Following that was a gradual but eventually punishing climb up to turn three, a short rest/moving up spot to turn four, and an all out sprint for the line, which repeated itself about 15 times in our 45 minute + 5 lap race. Through the race, I meandered from first wheel to mid pack and back about 6 times, making sure to hear what would be a eventually become a common sound out of the PA of "Triple X is on the front, pushing the pace again" Tracy and I did our fair share of work and then some, and to noone's surprise, at the end I was pretty well cooked and finished 40th. Oh well, three more days to race, and more to come on that..