On August 20th I entered the "Tour of the Tower" bike race sponsored by Congressman Bill Lipinski, along with some of my friends from the Cantian Ryders cycling group.  Among them were John, Bill, and Joe Swee, Sean and Brendan Dempsey, and Trevor Karas (the sole and revolting White Sox fan).  We had quite a bit of fun.  Enjoy the story told through pictures.

After going to Mass at St. John Cantius Roman Catholic Church in downtown Chicago, we went to the Karas' house.

The Duderator (Bill Swee), chillin' as usual, and his brother Joe, a loyal Cubs fan, arrive at the Karas's.

We load our stuff (backpack, bats, mitts, balls, etc.) into the carrier on the back of Trevor's bike.

Mrs. Karas supplied us with a great breakfast of pancakes, fruit, yogurt, and orange juice.  It disappeared in a matter of minutes.

After that we rode to the bike race, with Bill leading the pack.

There was quite a sizeable crowd at the race, probably around 150 people.

After we signed up for the race, we biked to a nearby park to play a quick game of baseball.  Joe is at the mound here, with Trevor on third base.

Joe's specialty is a fastball - high and inside.  He likes to keep the batter away from the plate.  It certainly worked on Brendan.  His levitation is a classical example of "Batter's Hop."

Unfortunately for Joe, Brendan grew adept at slamming Joe's fastball's, several times over the fence, and the outfield was helpless; all they could do was sit and watch it arc gracefully over their heads.  (Trevor on third, John playing shortstop, and Trevor's little brother in left field)

The game ended with a spectacular catch by Sean Dempsey at first base which was Trevor's third out.

Eventually we headed back to the race, and lined up at the starting line.

(Left, the 150 year-old water tower for which the race was named; middle and right, the cyclers line up (from left to right, Trevor's little brother, me, Brendan, Trevor, Bill, and some unknown guy)

We started off!  Brendan had an early lead, but he lost in  on the turns.  we only had a leader for the first lap of the race, and Bill Swee missed a turn and fell on the second lap.  I, meanwhile, drafted whoever the leader happened to be, conserving my energy for later.  Bill returned to the pack promptly, and nothing exciting happened until the final stretch of the third lap, when I attacked and broke away from the pack, as we passed the finish line I was over one hundred feet ahead of the pack, but I had to hold that lead for another mile during the last lap.  Navigating the sharp corners at 30 mph was rather hairy, but I managed them without incident.  Going into the final uphill stretch, I saw the Bill had fully recovered and was breaking away from the pack.  I pedaled furiously during that final stretch, and tried to convince myself that  Bill could not possibly make up such a large lead, but he caught me 10 yards from the finish line and beat me by less than a bicycle length.  The rest of the pack finished several seconds later.

The victors! Notice Bill's trophy and my silver medal.

John Swee (far left) finished third in the 18-35 division, an impressive feat for racing against guys who had spent thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours on their bikes.  On the right is congressman Bill Lipinski.

All in all, our group was very successful, placing in first, second, and third.

(from left to right, Trevor, me, John, Brendan, Sean, Bill, and Joe)

GO LANCE!!!  (inside joke)