Paris-Roubaix...Salt Lake Style

Keeping with my goal of doing a lot of races this year, I decided to try my hand at the Hell of the North race this past weekend. For those of you unfamiliar with the race, it is a cheap knock-off of the Spring Classic Paris-Roubaix race. However, in the cheapened Utah version, the cobblestones are replaced with a rutted-out dirt road.

Here's the quick and dirty: I kept myself in the top 5-6 riders all race. Spent way too much time pulling the peloton. Turned the last corner for the sprint finish and was absolutely out of gas. I went from 4th place and vying for a podium finish to 14th in a matter of 5 seconds. Wow. I'm terrible at road racing. I miss mountain biking and cross! The strongest rider always wins in mountain biking and cross. In road racing it's the most crafty rider that usually wins. Thank goodness for the Cholla this weekend!

Here are a couple of pics I stole from the zazoosh site. Enjoy

I'm 5th from the front. The guy in front is basically a pro mountain biker. He broke off during lap 2 and solo'd for the win. He's crazy fast!




Here I am being passed by the last guy in the chase group before the finish. He' s probably like 60 years old. Wow, I'm a wuss!