15€

last night as i was reading my book for witch hunting i got a call from a guy that said he could help me out with my seatpost issue, so i immediately went to his house, got it all figured out and was in bed 11. a bit later then i wanted, but given the circumstances, just fine with me.
again i woke up at 4, ate my oatmeal and was in the car on my way to the race by 5. the guy who drove is about exactly my speed (biking), so it worked out well today.
we got to the race area at 6:45 with a 8 start. after getting numbers and getting everything ready i had time for a good 30 mintue warm up, it made a huge difference. at 8 the boys went out and we followed 5 minutes after. it was a good size peleton i think around 90. the weather was 12 degrees and DRY!!! so i was able to wear just my regular jersey. the course took a few sharp corners to get out of the start area then got took a left onto what i think was a bike path, only for about 100 meters or so then uphill on a nice little street through vineyards for 1.5 km or so, it was mildly steep in some parts and not so much in others, but it was enough to spread the group out right away. after the hill it went down a nice road the same distance as the uphill, but wider with more turns. a few good sharp smooth ones, they were really fun. then a really quick S curve and onto flats, this flat part was done at full bore by everyone everytime. that was usually the hardest part of the race. then a fast (45 km/h) pace for the next 10 km on flats back to the start/finish. then again. the first lap i felt decent, but the next 4 or 5 laps i felt great. my cornering was good, i did not have to kick my own butt to get back to the group. it was really nice. at one point a few groups came into being and i ended up working hard with some others to get back to the ones further up. it was pretty tough. but eventually we caught up. with 3 laps to go i started getting cramps, partly because i was feeling yesterdays freeze, and also i did not drink nearly enough water yesterday or this morning. i was unsure if i would be able to keep with the group, but i spun a high cadence for a bit and the cramps calmed down. second to last lap nothing extraordinary besides using up a bit more energy. the last lap the hill hurt me a bit, i got stuck in a gap between the fast group and the slower, so i decided to take some risks on the downhill and try to catch up. it was working great till i took a corner to fast and went into the grass and came close to a fence, the small group just behind me passed me which ended up being great cause i just sat there and they pulled up to the front. plus it was kinda fun. i went to the limit on the curve.
the rest of the lap was faster than the others and i was able to move up near the front where i held my place to the finish. i came across 17th. at the time i did not know they were giving out money to the top 20 so i figured the group is the group and didnt really kick it at the end (of course with the little i had left). but i ended up getting 15€ so my race fee today and half of yesterday was covered. fun fun.
then we hung around and watched the elite race, some guys from the Milram and Rabobank continetal teams were there (Mil. and Rab. are pro teams). they have cool cars. and were even using radios.
then we came home.
now i am tired.

rabobank car.