Wednesday, April 19th, 2006
It’s a good thing that my club has not made the Opus racing series a priority this year because it got canned last night. It sounds like the Minnetonka police showed up in force and shut the race down due to riders ignoring stop and yield signs, riding the wrong way on one way roads and blocking traffic. At this point it sounds like the only way that racing is going to commence at Opus again is if the police are contracted to show up, shut the course down to cars and stay on the scene to direct traffic. The Loons are working feverishly to try and save the series but I suppose it depends upon how easy the police make it for them to continue.
I feel bad for the Loons as this club promotes a number of races during the season and contributes a lot towards the racing scene. A few bad apples may have spoiled what has been a successful racing series. I also feel bad for those racers that chose to go out to Opus last night and were not able to race. I don’t know how much racing they would have been able to fit in, what with the weather acting up, but I am sure it was disappointing to those who were ready to go.
I remember when me and Tommy Boy first starting driving down to race at Opus in 1988. There were only twenty or so others that were out there racing back then. Now they get around 150 riders showing up to race. I suppose that, as the fields increase in size, the race gets harder to control, but the Loons have been doing a great job. The problem is that, as the fields increase, the number of me-first a-holes also increase and you end up with situations like they had to deal with last night. I hope things get figured out because Opus is like an institution around here and it would be a real shame to lose this venue. Just because I am not racing out there does not mean that I do not support the race.
The Team Urthel Tough Guy Tuesday ride proved to be one for the tough guys. The pace wound up fast on the dirt path coming out of Hopkins and it just never let up. We got caught in the rain in Excelsior and even the tough guys had to take a few moments to step under an awning to stay out of the downpour but we were soon back on the bikes making our way to Minneapolis. It seemed like we were chased the whole way by dark clouds, thunder and lightning but it never really opened up on us so that was totally awesome. I felt pretty good considering the pace. I should say I felt like hell but I was able to do what I wanted to do in regards to making the hard effort. You know how sometimes when you feel like you are at the limit but you can still dig down and pull a bit more effort out? That’s how it was for me last night. It’s a good sign that my fitness is on track.
I even got home early enough to help with Baby Smithers bath time which is always hilarious. He has been pulling his little arms out of his swaddle blanket at night so last night we tried him with out the swaddle and he slept through the night like a champ. Little baby is all growed up. Sniff…
