Well - here goes.

I'm 50.  There's really no way around that.  I ride my bike a lot and I do pretty well.  I work hard.  I do a lot of things that keep me from being the absolute best I can be on the bike.  I drink too much beer,  I eat the wrong foods (and too much),  I don't get enough sleep.  The list goes on and on.

But even if I did everything I possibly could to become the bestest fastest rider around, what would it be for?  There are certain things I'm just not willing to sacrifice for the dream of being a kind of fast 50 year old guy on a bike (Family, friends, beer, food, being awake).

A proper perspective and ordering of priorities is the way to go.  At least that's how I feel when I'm not sitting on the bike.  When I'm on the bike, feeling the sluggish legs or having a hard time breathing because my gut is in the way, I'm making all kinds of promises to myself.

I make the best lifestyle choices possible. I decide to eat and drink right.  To get enough sleep, etc.

I punish myself for all of my past transgressions. I ride as hard as I can to bring on the pain I deserve for my lack of discipline.

Then when the ride is done, I'm so spent from my effort I realize I deserve that beer/food/ice cream.  I've earned it.  So I indulge.  Only to do it all over again the next day.

Unconventional training plan, I know.  But it's my unconventional training plan.

So here's my race report for the WNW that took place on Aug 5, 2015.

First I'm going to say that I have heard that if you mention the name "Jordan Ross" in a blog post, your numbers will skyrocket.

Jordan is a local rider who is not only one of the very best in the area - he shares a trait that they all have.  He's a really good guy.

There are a ton of guys who've been kind of shitty to me for one reason or another.  Here's a short list of guys who never have:

Chris Spence
Jonathan Wait
Lee Bumgarner
Jordan Ross
Lucas Marshall

These guys are all among the very best in the area.

I'm pretty embarrassed about the thought process I'm about to describe.  Remember, when I'm off the bike, I know who I am.  I forget when I'm riding.  Maybe that's why I like it so much.

Last night was fast and furious.  I got dropped pretty early on the way to Ft Calhoun.  I realized I was in trouble and tried to just sit in, but it was too late.

During my solo ride to the regroup at Ft Calhoun, I considered how much I hated myself and my life choices concerning food and drink.  I pedaled along, making a bunch of promises.

Usually, the ride from Ft Calhoun starts off kind of mellow. The intensity picks up gradually.  We were riding along and I was chatting with Brady when he looked ahead and said, "I'm about to get dropped"

I'm glad he saw it.  Shim, Spence, Matt somebody, Jordan and maybe some others had a break going.  The rest were chasing.  Brady saw it and drilled it to catch up with the chase group. I sat on his wheel while he did that.  He likes it when I just sit there.  He gets a better workout that way.  Far be it for me ...

Anywhos - we all got organized.  about 8-10 of us were rotating to catch the break group. Paul Webb was doing some massive pulls.

We caught the last remnants of the break (Shim, Spence, and Jordan Ross) just a mile or so before that wicked surfside climb-false flat-climb thing.

Most everybody stopped working at that point.  Not Rafal and me.  We pulled as hard as ever.  I don't know why Rafal did, but I know why I did. I was going to get dropped anyway.  I might as well build an excuse (true story).

So about halfway up the first climb part, I shut it down and settled into a nice slow pace.  I watched as several talented riders flew by me.  I watched as Rafal went by me.  Then I saw Dr Peter go by me in his arm warmer clad calves.

"Aw hell no,"  I whispered.  I didn't want to, but I sped up to latch on to Dr Peter's wheel.

Once the climb flattened, I could turn on the speed.  I passed Rafal and made sure he was on.  We rotated a couple of times, but he didn't have it so I went on ahead.

I was feeling good. I had a nice rhythm going.  Then the second climb part came as I passed a bunch of riders.  I flew down the descent and onto the flat near Hummel park.  I had a nice 27 MPH going when Jordan flew by me.

I struggled to get on his wheel, but I did it.  I looked at my garmin.  We were going 33 MPH.  Jeez. There wasn't a tailwind.

I hung on for a while until I started to recover.  Jordan was beginning to slow a little.  Still way faster than I would ride, but in his draft, I could breathe again.

Once we got down to about 29 MPH I was thinking I should do some work.  I don't really have the chops for that kind of speed, but the main group is just ahead and we're gaining on them.  If I can maintain 29 for long enough, maybe Jordan can catch them.

I took a deep breath and went around Jordan.  This is the embarrassing part.  I have read numerous accounts of how the domestique will turn himself inside out for the leader.  I am some 50 year old computer programmer from Omaha on a spirited club ride.

29 is extremely difficult for me to maintain.  But I can see we are still gaining on the leaders.  I want to quit really bad.  But I keep going as hard as I can.  I want Jordan to catch those guys so I can pretend it matters.

After about 2 minutes, I can no longer keep up the pace.  I start to slow down.  28, 27 and so on. Jordan doesn't come around.  I look back.  He has sat up.

Crap.

I was chatting with some friends about this and they are pretty sure Jordan sat up because when I went around him, the shock caused him to give up cycling.  You're welcome everybody else in the area.

So now I had a new mission which will explain how deep this sickness (pretending it matters) goes.  I figured there were 7 or 8 guys ahead of me.  I would not catch them, but I did not want anyone from behind to beat me to the sprint point. A yellow sign (actually, I don't know what it is because I've never arrived with the leaders).  I assume the intermediate sprint points pay out 15 places so I could still get some of that. I figured 25 MPH would be good enough to keep them away so I did not allow myself to drop below that no matter how much it hurt because it's really important.  Really.

So it ended up being a good ride.  Oh yeah, and FTG.