Legacy Parkway Tour 2009

This is me at the back looking dead right before the final sprint.

This was such a fun race last year I was excited and looking forward to doing it again this year. For various reasons, not the least of which is laziness and even being maybe a little burned out on cycling, I haven't been riding as much this year. I'm in okay shape. But, about 10-15 lbs heavier than last year and not quite up there on endurance and top speeds. Come to think of it last year I could have been in better shape also.

They didn't time the bikes this year. We were left to our own timing. I went down there with Craig and Teal. But, Teal didn't ride. We started near the front of the group. I didn't want to be right at the front because I wanted to have people to draft on. They announced that they didn't want anyone riding faster than 25 mph and they had a police motorcycle and an SUV to enforce that rule. Shortly after the start, I and about 7 other people realized that if we could draft off of the lead vehicles that would be a good thing. I hung with them for about the first 9 miles. I hit the turn around at about 25 minutes. Very close to last year's pace. By then the lead group was long gone and I was being caught by others including Craig. I stayed with Craig the rest of the way, occasionally taking a pull. I didn't sprint at the finish last year mainly because I wasn't sure where to start. This year I pulled out with about 2/10ths mile left (still a tad early, picture above) and wound it up to about 27 for the finish. None of the people in my group responded so I gained about 5 places right near the end to finish about 15th.