Ouch.

the streets of San Fran have not gotten any shallower,
maybe a little rougher, and they still hurt you when
you pedal up them. the SFGP is so unique in the
cycling world that there's just no camparison to any
other event for ferocity or frequency of steep climbs.
also unique is the way the race plays out: this is
only the 5th running of the event, and it has been
different every time. Well, there is one constant:
small groups, ones and twos, of the best cyclists in
the country and abroad slogging around the short laps
in a slow-motion pursuit, hoping the guys in front
runs out of energy before they do.

Ouch.

And Filmore st. i had a 29 tooth climbing gear on and
there was still no way i was making it up that hill
once i cracked. i have not snaked up that hill for a
long time but i had to this year just to make it.

So to the race details:i went with the move over the
top of filmore the first time, with two of my
teammates and we had 3 out of 18 or so, good
representation but it was all our good guys so we
didn't want to burn up early. also, after two laps
the pack was still only a few seconds behind, they
never gave up which was weird. a few groups bridged
up, making it like 40 guys, and we knew the winning
move would be coming out of this group.

Glen looked smooth on the hills, dom was running
solid, while i was starting to hurt and from lap 4 or
so i was riding on a little more courage then i would
have liked. Andy was also up there for a while but he
had his hurt face on over the top of every hill, and
he ended up dropping back after 5 laps to help Dionne
bridge up. good teamwork, Andy.

I was cramping lap 6 up Filmore (did i mention i hate
that hill?) and so refocused on doing teamwork for
Glen, who seemed to be our guy for the day. Mike
Creed was riding solo off the front, so i helped get
the time gap down a bit, then Glen went in a group to
bridge the final distance and i was on defense after
that. defense meant covering attacks the entire way
up to the hill and i was on "de-fence" about making it
over the climb with the group. i made it last wheel
lap 7, but i knew that was it and and just cruised in
with a few dejected racers who missed the decisive
split, and then pulled off when i saw my wife on north
beach.

Ouch.