Rainy Daze

The end of vacation is approaching rapidly. It has been great so far, but it has gone too quickly. Rainy weather kills any motivation to ride, but hopefully we will have good weather next week and we can do more riding.

Sh*t show.

That is the only way to describe it. The night before we were planning to head down to NY for the season opening "Singlespeedapalooza" my ride told me he had to work Saturday instead of driving down........Unless I wanted to hang out until 6 in the evening and then drive 5 hours down to the race with him. After being sick for three weeks and not really caring if I miss the race, or about a long drive through a storm that covered most of the East coast, I said, "Sure, that sounds like a great idea!" We had friends already in NY for the race with a hotel room we could crash at, and I didn't want Marco to miss the race, so I spent Saturday with Wifey and watched her be sick, and sleep, because that is what she does when she is sick. After doing all that exciting stuff, I decided to go for a quick ride at four, thinking Marco wouldn't be back until six. I got done with my ride and he called me to tell me he was 15 minutes from my house. I rushed home, tried to pack everything, and ending forgetting race food, my toothbrush and my knee warmers, but I remember all the essentials.

Still no bridge between VT and NY. The free ferry was fun though.

Single speeders get up early. Also, note the bending trees. It was windy.

The drive was rather uneventful (I slept for about two hours) and we met up with our friends and got a good night's sleep at the hotel. After breakfast and coffee, we got to the race venue at what we thought was a good and early hour, but we still had to park a bit away from the start. Marco and I got dressed and had heard from those that pre-rode the course that it was wet. Standing water up to your hubs wet. From people who ride 29ers. Awesome.

Why is Marco touching me? At least we are happy.

After. I look like I just snorted an ounce of baker's chocolate. Marco looks likes he's pooping.

Good times.

The race started off fast. It was easy to tell who was running a big gear on the 3 mile prolog, because they took off. I stayed towards the front for a bit, and then decided not to explode my legs before we even got to the single track. Once we did hit the single track, there were people everywhere, stop and go, people cutting through the woods to jump ahead, and people falling left and right. I managed to stay up through the prolog singletrack and had a pretty good position. I stayed with a group of four or five guys who were actually in shape through the first section of single track, but then they easily gapped me on the lengthy road section. I managed to keep them in sight through the road sections, and caught them one by one and passed them through the last single track section. One of them stayed behind me for most of the next lap, and it was nice to have someone to talk to. Until he got sick of me when we hit the road section again, and he dropped my like a diaper full of baby diarrhea. Hot, steamy, baby diarrhea. I felt a bit dejected, but kept telling myself that the faster I pedaled, the sooner I would be done. It was getting cold. The copious and deep puddles would nicely clean the bike of all the peanut butter mud that caked on through the first half of the course, but they also constantly doused water all over the riders. 3/4 through the last lap I got off to walk up one climb, and my knees didn't want to bend. I hobbled up and hopped back on the bike, forcing the legs to bend and hoping to make it in before getting caught by too many people. I tried to eat one of the clif bars I bought at a gas station, but those things are awful when you are trying to breathe and don't have access to lots of water. I spit most of it out and just limped towards the finish, getting passed by two guys towards the end. I gave it my all to stick with them through the last section of single track, and then was amused that they kept looking back at me on the long road section before the finish. They thought I might try and sneak up on them, but I was lucky just to keep them in sight. I ended up finishing 14th overall, which I was very happy with. The best part of the race was the Terrapin ale at the after race BBQ. Good stuff from Georgia. Marco and I hung out for a bit, talking to a lot of bike people we don't see during the winter, and then we convinced our friend Andrea to drive home, after she placed third in her race.

Overall, another fun trip to NY.

The plague

uuughh.......I felt pretty good until the last two weeks. I had been riding alot, getting out daily and feeling strong, then it hit me like a Micky Ward left hook (while I was sick and holding down the couch I watched a few movies) Awesome fever, plugged nose, ears and eyes (yup, even my eyes felt stuffed) Everytime I would get a little better, I would hop on the bike and try to ride, and dig myself deeper into the respiratory hell that this virus is. Finally went to the doctor last Sunday, got some pink horse pill antibiotics and I am starting feel a bit better. Just in time for the drive down to SS-apalooza. My ride got called into work today, so now we are leaving VT until 5. We should get to NY around 11, and sleep in the car. I guess it really doesn't matter, seeing as this will be a participation ride, rather than race. Hopefully I don't vomit on myself, or anyone else, but I am not going to rule it out.

I will let you know how it goes.