michael p murad

I don't know who this person is (though he apparently graduated from the U. of Maryland in 1980 and there is a scholarship in chemical engineering there named in his honor), but as a memorial to him I raced around an eight-mile loop in the Maryland countryside a bunch of times.

The last road race of the season and I think my fitness has finally returned. I felt good, rode an aggressive race--attacking out of the field countless times to either initiate or bridge gaps--and found myself in a few good breaks, but nothing panned out. That is to say, nothing panned out for me. After the pack finally did let a group get away an official neutralized us to let the 1-2 field pass. I don't know if he also later neutralized the break, but even if he did they couldn't have been stopped for as long as we were, and that pretty much ended that.

Later, when racing picked up again in the field, I bridged a gap only to find the nascent break hampered by an official keeping us from passing the now more slowly moving 1-2 field. Later, they neutralized and we passed. Ridiculous.

Despite (wisely) not contesting a crash-marred finish, I felt good with the effort. I felt strong, recovered quickly from my efforts, and rode an aggressive race. It felt good to be a bike racer on Saturday.