sylvan island stampede

i grew up in the quad cities long before i started riding so i never realized there was even much to ride there. kent carlson (a customer we were building a jabber for) mentioned this race to me and the fact that the lalonde brothers were going to be there. what the hell, might as well... it required a license which i'd never bothered to get because most of the races around here don't require them. my plan was to go race expert just so i could see first hand how fast these guys were and how bad they could beat people (myself included). well, apparently starting with a sport license doesn't allow you into the expert race...damn. the course was cool, an island that used to be a concrete foundry or something so occasionally you're riding along and you realize you're on part of an exposed brick floor/road/something. there are what seems like canals, culverts, chunks of brick everywhere...it really seems like a bomb site. anyway, i raced the ss race which was a totally separate race, longer than the sport and shorter than the expert. some guy from chicago and i literally rubbed tires for 20 miles. halfway through i thought he had me but i got a second wind. just before the final lap i was going to make my move but hit something, spun my bars, launched and landed on a patch of concrete with both knees. stem slightly askew i jumped back on and burned a lot just getting back on his wheel. about a third of the way through the final lap i passed him, pedaled like mad in the double track, took my time through the single track and held him off til the final 40 yards opened up to a sprint finish. my 34x17 was faster than his 32x18 and i won probably the closest battle i've ever had in a race. it was a riot. congrats to kent for taking third...a prelude of what is to come for him. jabbers first and third in the first iowa ss race of the year...nice. oh, based on lap times the lalondes would have beaten me by about 10 minutes, but i would have probably been top 5 in that expert race they wouldn't let me in.