Chicagoland Inline Stage Race

340m sprint – There’s not much I can say about this 30 second race. We knew that the rain was imminent during the pre-race meeting. I had a horrible start (lack of practice) and other guys like Justin Stelly took off like a rocket. About 100m into the race the floodgates opened and the rain came pouring down. I was 5th going into the turn and passed 2 guys to take 3rd.

Circuit Race – Saturday seemed like it would be a complete washout too. The TT was postponed and they ran the circuit first. It was supposed to be a points race (sprint every lap) but they couldn’t put down the chip mat because of the rain so it was a straightup 10k. For Friday and Saturday I was on gold street fight wheels (MPC). When it comes to rain wheels, MPC is hard to top. The street fights aren’t a specific rain wheel but they do the job quite well and supposedly out perform the storm surge if things dry up. Two of the Canadian skaters must not have paid attention at the pre-race meeting because they sprinted every lap for prime points that didn’t exist. I didn’t mind since they were only hurting themselves. With two laps to go I tried to break away with Alex but we got separated. Justin Stelly flew past me like I was standing still. I assumed the rest of the group was there because he sat up right after he passed me, but they weren’t. By the time I realized we had such a gap it was too late. I tried to go again but knew it wasn’t going to work so I shut it down. I ended up 3rd in the sprint to Justin and Marisio…same result as the 340m race the night before.

TT – The course had to be changed because of the delay. The main road was already open to traffic. The directors ended up setting up a great course regardless. It had two 180 degree turns I wasn’t thrilled about, but everyone has to do the same course so it’s not like there is an advantage/disadvantage for anyone. You just have to accept what the circumstances give to you.

It was tough to decide whether to race with wet or dry wheels for the TT. The “hill” was still pretty damp and the sky was dark so I went with wet. Most of the other elite men made the same choice.

I took both corners like a big weenie. I hit them even faster during my warmup. I ended up 3rd again to Justin and Marisio. Justin slaughtered everyone. I think Marisio had me by about 3 seconds. It would have taken more than just better cornering for me to make up 3 seconds I think.