Friday, August 11, 2006

Back in two weeks!

To all the Masifriends out there, I'll see you back here in two weeks. If I have the chance to post from Italy, I will try. However, I make no promises... so you'll just have to come back in two weeks.

Off to bed- it's late and I have a very early morning.

Ciao!

Tim

1 comment:

blue squirrel said...

[masibestfriend, with the masiguy absent for awhile, here is an excerpt from the velonews article on the race-to-replace, read down and see the masi winning news]

Smith's time withstood the 18-24 heat, won by Bennet Van Der Genugt of Bloomington, Illinois, in a time of 57:29, and the final 34-49 heat, won by Colavita Olive Oil amateur Christopher Gottwald in 55 minutes and 22 seconds.

Gottwald, a 36-year-old pilot from Vineland, New Jersey, was in Indianapolis at the insistence of his wife, who registered him for the event online. A struggling pro cyclist in the mid-1990s, Gottwald was clearly the strongest rider in the 34-49 heat, but may have been undone by competing in the largest group of the race, with 132 riders. After two laps, the lead group still consisted of 30 riders, and with a group that size, no one appeared willing to contribute to keeping the pace high for fear of flaming out.

"I tried to get things going a few times, but only four or five guys were willing to work," Gottwald said. "I'd calculated how fast we needed to go to beat a 52:42, and I knew by the second and third laps that we weren't going to make it." Gottwald, riding a Masi Gran Criterium with a Zipp rear disc wheel and a carbon deep-section front, attacked the field with three laps remaining and time trialed in, taking the win with time to celebrate in front of a sparse crowd of several hundred. Though his daughter was there to celebrate with him, Gottwald's wife, whom he dedicated the win to, was back in New Jersey.