Run BMC!

Made it in time for Opus III this time. Which is a miracle considering all the logistics required to bike commute to work, then to Opus, then home. A million little things you have to remember and do to make it happen! Anyway, this was the racing debut of the new BMC SL01 Road Racer. A bit of background: BMC is a Swiss frame maker that sponsored Phonak for Floyd Landis' Tour de France victory last year, and is sponsoring Astana this year. They also sponsor my team. They make very high quality bikes, so I was hoping to prove myself worthy of a nice racing bike today.
__Biking to Opus serves as a nice warm-up, and a few laps around the course got the legs used to processing pain. My secret goal for this race was to grab a prime and then finish the race so I could get some points and some intervals as well. For the first prime lap I managed to work my way into a good position and grab the right wheels for a 2nd place! I was stoked, especially as my team was watching and cheering for me and Brett and Mike. I sat out the 2nd prime lap (primes are every 3 laps and worth half the points of the final win). The 3rd prime I had some more energy and saw Brett going early, so I jumped forward and shouted at him that we could take a 1-2. I could tell he went too soon, so I moved forward into the wind, hoping we could work together to hold off the fast approaching pack. In the end another rider nipped him at the line as he was coming after me, but he got 3rd and so we were both on the board! For the final lap I tried to maintain a good position, but I didn't have anything left for the sprint finish, but I was very happy to have exceeded my goal for the race!
__In the Cat4 race, Morgan grabbed the first ninja prime, and Dan grabbed the 2nd. Again some background: Category 6 started the 'ninja prime' tradition last year at Opus. I'm not sure how it started since I had just moved here and wasn't doing Opus since I was afraid of criteriums at that early point in my racing career. Anyway, a ninja prime is just racing for 1st across the line on a non-prime lap (when it doesn't count for anything), which is basically a complete waste of energy, but is crazy fun showmanship in the Cat6 tradition!
__In the 1-2-3 race, only Derrick was racing, and he grabbed the 1st two ninja primes before we all had to leave. Since I didn't know my way back home from Opus, I went with Dan, Steve and Brett. We looked hella pro riding a double paceline all in our Cat6 kits on the Greenway! After sitting around for two races my legs like logs from all the lactate, especially at the pace Dan was pushing. Nevertheless I was still running on adrenaline from my results! Dan remarked on the big improvement over last year, and even said I looked different from last year. They say it takes a couple of years of racing for the physiological changes to take effect, so hopefully things will continue to improve!
__As for the BMC, I'm very pleased. It's noticeably lighter, more responsive on the hills, and corners like a dream. Plus it looks sexy!