Ninigret No 1

Looking at the weather prediction for this weekend, it was apparent that racing enjoyment would be curbed quite a bit on Saturday, making it all the more attractive to go to Ninigret last night. The same tired script played out of course, with all the big engines detaching themselves and surfing the field for an hour- Gary A- Tobi S- Billy Y- Billy M- Adam S- Randy R- Todd B (hope I didn’t miss anyone) they duked it out for the win (I think Tobi got it) while us mere mortals in the field worked it as a training race should be worked. I went for a prime at one point and got outgunned by a tall dude who I think is a junior (?) Anyway, I’m glad I didn’t quit because it was a 2 place prime (Nice six pack of Narragansett Lager- Ninigret has the best primes!) I almost tossed my cookies after that sprint, and had to really dig deeeeep to stay attached to the field- something made a lot harder by the many folks who were dropping out and jumping back in every other lap. I was getting gapped and it was even more painful to go around the bodies that were being spit out the back. This was a windy edition of Ninigret for sure. At 5 to go I had pulled myself together in the sprinter’s lounge and started moving up. By the time we heard the bell, I was 5^th wheel. On the back stretch I was 3^rd wheel. We had barely hit the final left hand curve and I became impatient and started my sprint 333 yards from the line. My leadouts were cooked and it was time to either GO or be swarmed and end up fighting for a wheel or a clear path. Field sprinting for 8^th place? Meh... It’s a training race. Why not practice some sprints? I wasn’t exactly sprinting from the back of the field.. The correct thing to do would have been to hug the right hand curb, but that’s not what I did- stupid me- I left a lane open on my right side and [correctly] held my line to the finish. Tall junior rider and someone in Cox uniform passed me on the right. 3^rd in the field sprint- I’ll take it. It was an excellent workout. The bad news is that when I got back to the car, my wife was in the driver’s seat while my son was kicking a soccer ball around. I put the bike up on the car, yelled at Reis to get in the car and jumped in the passenger side- I was cold. What do you think we left leaning against the car as we drove off? A Bontrager Race-X-Lite front wheel. We do not recall running it over, but it sure as hell didn’t make it into the car. I’m hoping a good Samaritan saw us drive off and is holding the wheel for me. It matches my Powertap wheel and I really want to get it back. Has a blackwall Conti 4000s tire on it and a Polar magnet on the spoke. Thanks for reading.