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stuporbowl is over.

in the aftermath we have the little guy standing tall as the winner, with me following in a close second place.

it was a good day for lgr.

there were over 275 people registered for this years event. insane.

the start was down by the lock and dam, i got a pretty good start, not quite the holeshot, but more than good enough.

and after the chump in front of me turned towards the downtown stops, i was at the front.
(because anyone foolish enough to route through downtown first was definately not gonna win).

anyway, i blazed a trail across the hennipen ave bridge into ne mpls, and went up to university ave to head out to my first stop at suzi's.
i had one kid on my wheel, and i had him pull through. after a block or two he turned back in towards marshall, which i was trying to avoid because it meanders a bit and uni is a straighter shot. but, i would also rather have a wheel to sit on so i followed. this move got us to suzi's just after the little guy and geno(!), and we tagged along with them throught the rest of the ne stops.

i got held up a touch at broadway and stinson, and was already dangling about 20 secends off the little guys furious pace, and lost contact with the group of 3.

i cruised through the u of m and across to the west bank and knocked out palmers and the nomad, cut thru the dirt lot past hardtimes and down riverside to 25th, and from there backtracked a bit to th scallywags shop.

from there i rode right up to the lrt train station just as a train pulled up, and hopped on.
i had planned ahead and bought a ticket just prior to the race. sweet.

that gave me plenty of time to catch my breath and warm up, while i rocketed out to the sunrise inn on 46th st at 40mph. when i got inside the sunrise there was gene, the little guy, and the kid i was originally with, (who's name i would later discover, was noah). they had ridden.

chumps.

so i was back in contact with the group, and headed over to take the train back in to lake st.
from the station we rode to twilight tattoo, and then to a house on 32nd and elliot, followed by my friends heather and carissa's house at 40th and blaisdale.

then on to crc, the independent, joe's garage, mackenzie's, and a house at glenwood and cedar lake road. these we all a blur, i was in race mode, and don't remember too much about them.
although i do know that this seemed to be the part of the route that the other didn't have planned out very well, and i kept nagvigating us to the right places.

anyway, next was the long haul out to theo wirth....
...and a long haul back in.

boy, is that tough after 2 hours of hard effort.

in -10 degree weather.

but i digress, so we had 2 stops left and we were all pretty gassed, and the group was yo-yoing.
on the way in to one on one, the little guy had about ten meters on me and gene. it wasjust enough to make a light. we had to slow a bit and navigate around a few cars.

i knew first place was gone. the little guy didn't even have to attack.
as i ran in to 1 on 1, he was running out. 'nice job, champ', i said. patting him on the shoulder as we passed.

so, 2nd place was mine to lose, gene was just ahed of me, and noah just behind.
although i didn't know it, noah was cramping up and would struggle the last few blocks of the race.

i had a route over to dan kelly's on 7th st in mind, but gene was making some random turns in front of me. i decide to stick to my plan, and let him take his route. this was a good call.

i beat gene to dan kelly's, appearently he thought it was on 6th, or something, and got himself turned around. when i left dan kelly's noah had yet to arrive...

and that was it.

it was sewed up, and i rolled easy in to the finish at the foundation, at 5th and hennipen.

lg = 1st
dis = 2nd
noah = 5th
gene = 6th

not a bad day.