Opus, Tuffy sighting, sick

Went out for Opus yesterday, in spite of feeling like I'm coming down with something. I was going to bike to get a good warm-up in, but there were gusting winds from the north, so my commute northwest would have been hell and would have made whatever pending sickness I had worse. I resolved to bike to Opus from work though, which is due south and should have been a breeze (get it? breeze - tailwind - haha). I felt worse as the day wore on though, so I drove down. Which is a good thing because it got downright cold as the evening wore on, and all I brought was a thin windbreaker. This after miserable heat on Monday! Gotta live Minnesota. I didn't want to skip out because a lot of team members that don't always come out for Opus were showing up, including Little D and T3 in my Cat4 race.
__I felt pretty good other than what felt like swollen lymph nodes and a sore throat. In the end it's turned out to be tonsilitis. So I felt frisky enough at least to carry on the tradition and grab a ninja prime, especially since Morgan wasn't there to entertain. It was fun actually - I did the classic accelleration up the side and went past the front at a good clip, and heard some people talking about covering it (probably because the next lap was the prime), as well as a general reactionary accelleration in the field. In the end once they saw the Cat6 jersey they let me go, and I crossed the line hamming it up with a Cat6 victory salute to some cheers.
__Here's the interesting thing - after the sprint I sat up, but it took half a lap before the field caught up with me, in spite of it being the bell lap. I have to wonder what would have happened if I'd maintained a decent clip and maybe stayed out long enough to grab the real prime. Or, if we'd all gone, we could have worked together and taken 1-2-3. We'd probably have gotten away because people think we're just goofing around!
__Anyway, I got dropped as the field wound up for the sprint and couldn't quite catch on. Steve offered his wheel but I couldn't hang on. Eventually I got lapped, and jumped on to the field again. It's astounding how much faster you can ride in the draft of the field, especially on a windy day!!
__In the Cat5s Brett wasn't just goofing around. With Derrick riding as coach, Brett was egged on to take 2nd in a prime and 2nd at the finish, for a 2nd overall! Way to go Brett!
__The elusive Tuffy showed up to race too. He used to be a Cat6er but went over to LGR because they have cooler kits. He kept his BMC though 'cause they rock. We chatted for a while while getting ready in the registration area. I should have gotten a picture to prove he comes out to race sometimes! Apparently he trains though, as he held on in the Cat4 race.