ElK Grove, IL

First off let me say that I was talked into doing this race by a team mate, and I am glad it did it. Race was in Elk Grove, IL in a residential neighborhood. Course was great, smooth roads, and the corners were easy to handle if you new how to ride your bike. Turn  one was a  180 degree corner and many didn't know how to take it, but we all made it through with out crashing. Turn five was another one that people had a hard time with too. Weather was perfect, sunny and warm!
I picked Travis up at 7am (team mate) and we headed down. Race didn't start till 11am, but I always like to be @ 2 hours early. This leads to plenty of time to get ready and no rushing around. We were there plenty early, we walked the course, pinned our numbers and relaxed a bit before warming up. I happened to fall again landing on my bad wrist and scrapping my elbow pretty good. What happened was we were headed to the bathroom and there was some one walking on the sidewalk towards us and didn't move over. I went off the sidewalk and when I tried to get back on the sidewalk my tire caught the edge of the concrete and I fell over, distinctively trying to break my fall with my hand and my bad wrist that just doesn't flex like it should. OUCH, didn't even care about my elbow bleeding, that really didn't hurt, but my wrist sure did. And now I have to race my bicycle, how the heck is this going to go?
Anyways we lined up and again I was towards the back. I need to plan my starts better, and start further up. Race started pretty fast and it took me a little while to get comfortable breathing super hard. I started to move up in the pack. I managed this very well staying off the complete front. I played around with many lines through the corners figuring out where I can apply the "X" factor the best. Travis wanted to try a break and he did twice, but it wasn't going to happen. Everyone was being very attentive and aggressive with every move. This allowed me to sit in and just move though out the pack where I was comfortable. The race wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. I was waiting for the pace to lift up at the end and it did multiple times. I timed the sprint the best to my ability and was able to squeeze out a 4th place finish to collect a $100.00 check. This was a great day of racing for myself. I wish Travis would have felt better, but his fitness will come back around quick.
Up coming, a team ride meeting at Juniper 61 on Saturday (one of our sponsors). Race the Lake is August 19th, so this is just around the corner. Looking forward to it.......I think.