Snelling

This past weekend I raced Snelling Road Race. It was one of if not the most prestigious event held by Velo Promo. I was racing the 3's which registered 100 people, so it was a full field. When I got to the start, I walked outside to register, and lost feeling in my finger tips. It was 34 degrees out,  some of the coldest temperatures I've rode in.

The race started off with a solid 2 mile neutral to "warm up." By no means did I warm up. I was literally shaking uncontrollably. Once we hit the start line, attacks were going left and right. My goal was to stay top 20 in the pack the entire race, I didn't want  to find my nose in the wind at  any time in the race until the end.

For the majority of the race the pack stayed together. On the second to last lap a rider from DBC, and former teammate Joey Nygaard got away for a good amount of time. Their gap got up to about a minute before the peleton really started to up the pace. They ended up being caught right after the start of the final lap.

The last lap made this the most stressful road race I've done. The pack decided to slow to a blistering pace of 15 mph. No one wanted to pull. Finally we got to the feed zone and there  was a solid attack that didnt really get any where but at least we were up to speed. We got on to the last stretch of the race, and there was a major head wind. This caused the pack to spread across the entire road. Getting position was nothing short of impossible without any teammates to help you. I finally found a wheel up the middle, and before you know I was second wheel going into the final turn. But the "swarm" came and yet again I was boxed in from the left and right.  In the last 300 meters a rider sprinted into another riders wheel which caused a three man pile up. Lucky for me I was able to get around to the right. Unfortunately I ended up sprinting in the wind with no protection at all. I ended up 5th. If you ask me how I managed to get a top 5, I couldn't tell you. The last part of the last lap was absolutely chaotic. All in all, I'm just happy I managed to stay upright. Thanks for reading.