Mpls Crit: the craziest bike race I've ever seen...

...the photos pretty much sum it up:

Sascha's photos
Ben's photos
Kele's photos

The hail hit before the women's race...I've never seen hail that large. Pete, Patty Cakes and I were sitting in the car and the hail was hitting so hard that we couldn't even hear each other when we tried to talk. (Side note for my co-workers...the storm sewer was not keeping up in downtown Mpls...the car was sitting in about a foot of water before we decided it was best to move it.) The rain finally stopped, and the women were able to race, but a few minutes into the men's race it started to pour. I couldn't believe how fast those guys were taking corners considering the conditions. Unbelievable. After about 20 minutes, they finally decided to stop the race when a bolt of lightning got a little too close for comfort. Pete and his teammates all managed to stay upright and not get hit by lightning. Crazy stuff.

Today's race was an 86-mile road race in Mankato. Pete did awesome...I think he's sitting 37th overall going into the last stage in Stillwater tomorrow. He's a little disappointed in 37th, but I'm pretty damn impressed.

SS