107 degrees...

The TNCWC went off tonight with a rather large group, considering it was 98 degrees with a heat index of 107 when we started. Thank goodness the humidity was low!
It wasn't a blistering pace, but the pace combined with the heat made for a hard-ish ride. The group stayed together the entire race, except for a few attacks. Each of these was pulled back quickly.
The whole group went into the last lap together and RW threw an attack about 1/2 way down the backstretch. It got pulled back, but the chase spread the group out. I went into the corner sitting 5th, behind Charles and Sundaedae. Charles nailed it with @ 300 to go and flat rode away from us. I sat up, demoralized and coasted across 9th. Considering the fact that I've been at the beach for a week, riding my cross bike, with it's little gears...I'll take a top ten finish.

Edit: I forgot about the crash in turn four on the last lap. As we bombed the corner, taking the proper line through the apex, I noticed a couple of guys way outside. You can take turn four a couple of ways...fast or wide. You cannot, however, take the corner fast AND wide. Two guys went down in a 30+ mph pile. Fortunately, they crashed into the curb and wound up in the grass. SippyNick got up and rode away. The Cycle Center guy wasn't so lucky. He piled his Six13 into the median, but according to Shrews @ CC, there wasn't much damage. The same can't be said for his shoulder. He has the tried and true AC separation. I had a grade four and can tell you, it ain't fun!

There are two kinds of cyclists. Those that have had shoulder injuries, and those that will.

I just ordered an IRD Cadence Aero rim (30mm deep & 460 grams) and some Sapim CX-Ray spokes for a rebuild of the PT. Hopefully, this will make the wheel a bit stiffer and more aero. The Open Pro rim built 2x drive and non-drive with straight 2.0 spokes gets the job done, but I want it to be better. The weight shouldn't change that much either. We'll see...

I'm tired...! As #1 would say, "Night, night...!"