Sunday
Things got a little rowdy after the race Saturday. I felt like garbage, drank a coke and ate a sausage then had a few beers and some sambuca. Needless to say I got almost every elite rider's spirit animal. I think Adam Craig said an elephant, Mike from Cuppow said it was me, Adam Myerson wouldn't reply because he hates heckling, also had monkey, chimp, unicorn and some MIT rider said his computer. Much fun was had in the woods.
Art.
Saturday night we cooked a killer pasta and vegi team dinner and relaxed. I purchased a Queen air mattress and got a half decent nights rest.
I also cabled up a loaner Apex rear shifter to i could race the next day.
CSI DAY 2
We showed up around 9. Parker (Laughing Dog owner), Brought a wind screen for the tent, a floor tarp, camp stove, chilly, beer AND A PROPANE HEATER!!! Talk about #1 tent on club row. The wind was howling and the temperature had dropped a little.
I went to throw on my shoes and pre-ride at 9:40 when I began frantically ripping things out of my Bailey Works. I FORGOT MY SHOES AT THE HOUSE!
Mind you the house was only 30 minutes away and my race was at 12:45. Not all was lost. I drive back to the house in Pelham and figure my shoes would be in one of two places.
Wrong. They were nowhere to be found. Kate and I rip through everything for 20 minutes. No luck. We go to leave, and I'm feeling like someone shot my dog. I start the car, put it in reverse and decide "NO!"
I turned off the car and ran back inside to the room I was sharing with zach and the ladies and notice his air mattress is slightly off the ground. I looked at it 20 minutes before and didn't notice anything odd. Well, there they were. Under the mattress.
BACK TO THE RACE!
I preride and the course features a pretty crazy wall around a tree. Seriously, look at this thing! (ridden left to right) I gave it one effort riding and came around with wayyyy too much momentum and one foot hopped down the hill sideways with my bike between my legs.
The rest of the course is similar to the day before with a few tweeks here and there. Overall a fun course. I think they pulled the technical wooded section.
Second row call up again. F/R tires Fango/Griffo, #13 bib, perfect tacky terf. Not a great start, Zach appears next to me from three rows behind and tells me if I learn how to start I could probably be pretty fast. We hit the tree wall feature and it was pretty jam packed. My goofy foot dismount had me downhill from my bike which I think was an advantage. (gold sleeve and blue bike visible running down hill)
I gave a hard effort and worked my way up quick and caught Bradford of The Drifters. He and I have split most of our races up to this point so he was good to ride with. We soon connected with the fastest slow rider I know. This guy is always pretty far up in the field. He is a bigger dude and can really motor but every time I'm behind him I know I can be going faster. So you make a move on him he sprints you and shuts the door and slows down again. There is no amount of "Can I pass on you left" or "Please let me by" that will open a door. It's just annoying and I'm not the only one to have experienced this from this exact racer.
Bradford and I finally put some space on the slow fast guy and also on another nemesis David Kozikowski with a couple to go. I put space on Bradford running the tree at the start of the last lap but actually slowed down slightly and wanted him to connect. It took 1/4 lap and in this time David and Slow/Fast's group were gaining. I would have blown up if I stayed alone.
Brad and I switched off and he got ahead before the barriers. We had 10 lengths or so on the group behind us and only 1/4 lap left. We rounded the corner where I crashed yesterday and I attack through the barriers. Brad went left and I had plenty of room to get by. I beat him into the corner and opened up everything I had. We was faster through the baseball field corners to I pushed the straights as hard as I could. I had 5 seconds on Brad and only 6 seconds on the chase group at the finish line. Finished 8th/100 which was good enough for $35!! Nice.
No racing next weekend. Signed up for Marty's Fried Turkey ride on Sunday.
Next up Cheshire CX and Sussex.
