Mengoni: "That's Racing"

Saturday morning I raced Mengoni, World Championships of Central Park. I was psyched because we were racing with the junior boys, which meant that the race would be hard (perhaps hard enough to drop the sprinters) without my doing one lick of work to make it hard. I knew the strongest rider - the Polska kid whose entourage had been excited about my last name earlier this year - and planned to just sit on his wheel and go in any break that had him in it. Targetraining, Comedy Central, and Radical Media were there but again, having the juniors in the race made it easier for me to compete against full teams. 8 miles in and things were going well - no impulsivity and we'd just gone up Harlem Hill for the second time, me sitting second wheel on the Polish kid, gaps forming behind us, when I flatted. And that was it, because there are no spare wheels in park racing. I was pretty bummed, had wanted to win and believed I could which is half the battle. At times like this you call on our sport's catch-all phrase for disappointment and bad luck: "That's racing." Mike Sherry, who had directed my team at Altoona in 2005, came along and rescued me with a tube and pump. Targetraining played their cards right (with three riders in the final break), with Robin Farina soloing in for the win. New York City racer Carole Gale took second, with Rebecca Wellons charging hard for third. Hiroko had a strong 4th, which was good to see. Hiroko and I went back to the apartment of some dear family friends, had a good breakfast and interesting conversation that put race disappointment in context, and made a Zabar's run prior to hitting the road for Thater.