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Karel's race report



I ended up staying home this weekend because of mid-terms next week. There is nothing I'd rather do than watching a cycling race or triathlon and since I am sitting around studying for two days straight...boo for this school stuff!! I did get in a great 54 mile ride this morning on seduza..first time I rode her since Kona and she felt great!!! It was super windy today and it rained as soon as I got home. It was a rough ride, even on my sexy bike.
Last night Karel didn't come home until 9pm. His new fork (which arrived on thurs this week) was squeeky on his fri. morning ride. He needed to get a part from a friend in order to make it stop squeeking and then he had to cut the part to make it fit on his bike (sorry for my lack of details..bike stuff, not my area of expertise). Karel can figure out everything with bikes but I am sure he didn't want to feel so pressured so last minute. This morning Karel was up at 5am and he left at 6:30. Off to orlando for the weekend. So I was nervous all day waiting to hear from Karel. The race was suppose to start at 11:30 and I didn't hear from him at 2pm. I texted him but no reply. I wasn't sure if he crashed, if he finished or if he had a good or bad race. I was just so nervous all day. I feel the same way when I watch someone online during an Ironman...you get so worried if you don't see their time when you refresh your computer!! So, it was 2:45 and still no phone call. He always calls after his races and I was hoping that maybe they started late due to the massive rain storm (the race was in orlando but it rained everywhere this morning) and that is why he didn't call. Of course with a race in the rain, that puts me in super nervous mode. So finally I hear from Karel. OF course he first has to tell me that he is eating at a German restaurant...food always comes first for Karel...then the results.
It looks like Karel redeemed himself from last weekend. Congrats to Karel for his 6th place finish!!! Wahoo....he gets his prize money tomorrow :) Hopefully he will have another great finish tomorrow for the crit. Although Karel just called, I didn't talk to him too long since he is with a group of cyclists all in the same house eating pasta (I know..they eat all the time!). I just received an email from him so I thought I'd post his race report:
Today race was pretty technically difficult. The rain, coble stones and carbon rims with the cork pads was not the best combination all together. The loop had six corners and only one long straight away on the other side of the course. Then it was 2 90 degree turns with really short straight roads between and I knew I couldn't pass anybody there. So I was planing to start my sprint on the other side of that long road. I did it and I was heading first in the turn (two guys were in the break) but than some guys went crazy in that turn and passed me. I didn't really fight for it because it wasn't worth it in this small race to crash or something. So I eased up and that put me in fourth place when I crossed the line. So I was 6th place with two guys in the break. I had few bad moments in the race after a few hard efforts and I had to kinda ease up and drop a little bit in the middle of the pack to take a rest. But than in the end I felt better. They shortened up the race for just 60min + laps (Instead of 75 min. plus laps) because of the bad weather. The field was getting smaller and smaller by the end of the race. From our team it was only Ryan, me and Curtis at the end. Curtis did 35+ race first and than didn't finished the pro 1,2 race.
Tomorrow we should have the whole team here so there will be a little bit more man power.


It looks like he had a great race even with only a few of his teammates to work together. I guess I will do my run in the morning and again, be nervous until I hear from karel :) I posted a few more pics from his last race.