Prom, Racing, and NOT Sleeping...

Well this past Friday was the all anticipated Senior Prom 2008. It all got underway around 12:00 when I got to leave school early. (Had to get my hair did...or sleep) So I went got gas and picked up my dates flowers and then headed home for a nap that would be crucial to my survival of the night and the next day. I woke up around 4:30 and got a shower/cleaned the car/got dressed and went to pick up my date at 5:30. We took some pictures and some more pictures and some more pictures and then went to the school for pre-prom and more pictures. Finally it was time to actually go to the prom.
The prom was at the Renaissance Room in Washington Twp. which was really nice. The whole prom thing was a blast as it should be. After prom we headed back to school to board some buses and head over to Project prom at Dave and Busters. This was definitely an awesome time. We played games and bowled and did not sleep at all. The bus ride home we all slept a little but not very much. Once back at school I took my date home as well as my friend and her date. I got home around 7-7:30 am and immediately fell asleep...for an hour. Once I got up I ate and had my mom drive me down to the Wilmington Grand Prix race. This was going to be fun. The Crit was a big one, 92 starters with $1500 total prize list on line. I got a good warm up pre-riding the course. It featured to long straights with two short ends. The finishing straight was long and slightly uphill with brick street crossings, the backstretch was a slight downhill with a strong headwind into a tight third corner. I rolled around with Woody from Philly Ciclismo, we talked about how I thought the race would end in a field sprint, and that if we got in a break together we would really try an stick it out. We line up, the whistle blows and we were off. I worked hard to maintain a position in the top 15 riders. The pace was very fast, and was not letting up at all. Attacks were going but nothing really promising went. I gave it go with around 27 laps left. It didn't work, I just spent a lap in the wind. The race was fairly uneventful for awhile, just solidly fast. Around 12 laps to go I was sitting around 10-15th place when two riders in front of me collided and went down. One fell into my front wheel breaking 3 spokes, and nearly taking me down. I stuck my foot down and managed to kick off the ground rather than slide my body across it. However my front wheel was trashed. I made my way into the SRAM neutral service pit where my old heavy 32 spoke front wheel was traded for a nice light-weight Zipp 404. I took my free lap and jumped right back into the race. I was sitting on Woody's wheel when we got our 8 to go lap card. On the back stretch he attacked and I followed. We got a gap, not just any gap either a good gap. We started to work together and the pain began to set in. After four laps our lead had been extended to around 25 seconds. Then Woody attacked me into a corner, I just couldn't follow. However I did not give up. I kept giving it what little bit I had. I spent another three laps off the front by myself before having another rider bridge up to me with one lap remaining. He started to play games when he bridge on, I told him "Let's not screw around, let's just get to the finish, I won't even sprint." So he took the lead, I pulled once more on the backstretch and then we entered the final stretch, shook hands and started to sprint, I had nothing left. He took it with ease but I rolled in just behind him and 7 seconds ahead of the field. 3rd place is something that I can be quite happy with. After the race the announcer interviewed having heard about my prom night and me not sleeping at all. "Where's your dedication kid!" he said. I laughed and replied its my senior prom, I had to go. Besides I think I just proved my dedication on the last 8 laps. It was a great event. It was a great course, it was run smoothly, and was hard enough that 52 riders were pulled from the race. However that was to be my last race as a Cat 3, I upgraded later that day. Now its time to start on the next quest, doing well in Cat 2 events.

Peace and Love,
Patrick