how soon is now?

Woke up this morning not feeling so hot, I was sore, and tired. Damn Dogs kept me up all night. I started the day with a doughnut, a cup of coffee, and 4 Advil. A shot of whiskey and I would have just gotten back in bed.

Got to Granogue and expected a small group. There was a big group. Fred the plumber talked about coming out, but he was a no show. I was shocked. His email address rules it’s FredtheGreat@somethingorother.com. That guy rocks. I hope he was out drinkin' too much the night before. No worries, I was excited to ride, and the day was beautiful. We did a lap and a half of the course, had a chance to ride with Matt V, and Brent who are both section leaders for the race. We talked about what needs to be done in the next couple of weeks. These are 2 guys who are not old WW guys, but stepped up to make sure this event happens. Granogue will truly be a product of our community, and I’m pretty proud of that. (for more race info check out www.racegranogue.com ). I thought the course was spectacular today, maybe the most fun I have ever seen it.

After a lap or so at Granogue we also headed over to Brandywine to ride some rocks and some of the sweet sweet single track that is over there. We had a much smaller group at this point, the groupetto included: Vahey, Fitzy, Biddle (tye domi of cross), Green Trek John, Johnny W, Jaime, Ted the wheelie king, Fast dude on the Seven whose name I forgot (sorry). It was a really good group we kept each other honest. Biddle was riding divinely, he was giving a clinic in the rocky stuff, and used some of his tye domi magic to make it to the top of the final dirt climb today in the lead by half a wheel. That was actually a pretty fun section with Green Trek John, Vahey, Biddle (tye domi of cross), and me dicing it up pretty good. May be Biddle could give ole Floyd some tips to battle out with Basso in July. Vahey and Cleary showed who has the real climbing legs walking away from Biddle and I up the final road section back to Granogue. You know I was busting Fitzy’s ass about his new Spot Brand 3 Speed, but he rocked out on that thing today, so I have to give him some props. Props to Fitzy. Okay, enough props.

The group today was phenomenal, I was super stoked , I drove out of Granogue feeling pretty happy with the ride.

Being that this is Diane’s Birthday weekend we went down to Baltimore for the afternoon. There was some kinda festival going on, and a sailboat race or something. We saw a cool break dance show that was pretty awesome, and really funny. They guys were street performers from Brooklyn, and totally had a show going. It was as funny as it was incredible with some of the stuff they pulled off. I’m thinking about trading in my bikes for a piece of cardboard…. We went to the National Aquarium to see the new Australian exhibit which was pretty weak, except for the snake necked turtles and the huge fruit bats. The new Frog exhibit was much more interesting. The poison arrow frogs, and the waxy monkey frogs were my favorites. We also saw a Volvo SUV made of out Lego’s. Since Diane is going to have some more time on her hands very shortly, I think she’s gonna try to make a Cooper version. So if you have any old Legos please get them to Diane.

Looking forward to catching up with Matt (run forest), Ted Logic, Johnny W, and El Presidente (todd) in the morning for a nice fairhill ride. I’ll take another beating, but I’m getting pretty used to that. “thank you ma’am may I have another…”

All in all a pretty damn sweet day.

respect
fm

I got a phone call from Diane at work yesterday.

“well, I got the word; I am officially being laid off.” She announced.

Not knowing really what to say, I commented, “wow, are you okay? We knew this was coming but are you okay?” She continues, “yeah, I’m good. They sent all of that got our date today home. You know to in case one of us decided to go postal or something, I’m gonna go for bike ride.”

A few hours pass, and I get another call from Diane, “man, I have had a great afternoon, you know aside from the whole losing my job thing. I had a great ride, realty felt good, flowed really well, and then I played guitar better than I have in months, It was awesome…”

She continued, “you know that 12 hour race you are talking about in June? I think I’m gonna do that.” “what?” I respond. “Diane continues, “yeah, it’s been a long time since I’ve done a race, and I need a goal, I think I’m gonna do that race.” “sweet, I say, we’re gonna have a fun day for sure.” If things turn out, I think Amy is gonna race with Diane for that one.

One door closes, and another opens.

Last night Diane went riding with Tab. Her old 40 minute loop has quickly become her 20 minute loop, which means she continues to get stronger. That’s pretty cool.

Matty (run forest), Epi (yes, that Epi), and I had a really nice ride at fairhill. We wandered our way around Gallagher and then into the main park. Coming through the 5 bridges we saw El Presidente Todd, leading a powerful group consisting of Buddy the leg breaker, Green Trek John, and Kurtee. They were going way faster than I can go. It was really good riding with Matt, we talked a lot of smack, that was fun. Trails were superhero good.

Matt has such a good perspective on life. I really appreciate that. Given the recent events I think I owe him some therapy money or something.

When I got home Diane had a couple of char-grilled hotdogs waiting for me. HMMM they were tasty. Yeah, not the most healthy post ride treat, but what do you want, my name is fatmarc, not healthy-eatingmarc.

Good luck to everyone headed down to Green briar this weekend. I love that race, but being as it’s Diane’s birthday this weekend, and I’ll be racing or promoting the next three weeks, I’ll be staying close to home this weekend.

respect
fm

I hate McDonald's

Thursday I left work early with migraine headache. I never get them; it hurt to even have my eyes open. It was bad. When I woke up Friday, morning, I loaded my road bike onto the roof of the toaster, planning to do openers at lunch time. Stomach still didn't feel great from the migraine, which anytime you have a headache so bad your stomach hurts, gives you an idea of how I felt. But I digress, my stomach felt, well hung over. What the best cure for a hang over, well aside from the hair of the dog that bit you, that's right greasy food.

Well in West Grove, PA there aren't that many greasy places to eat, and although it was against my better judgment, I decided to get a breakfast burrito from McDonalds.

I cruised into the drive through, without a care in the world. Instantly, my already stick stomach clinched as I heard a horrific crashing sound. I spun around to see what the racket behind me was. Then a felt and heard a loud crashing in my driver's side. I spun back around to see my red Cannondale road bike swinging out from the roof, and smashing back into my Honda element for a second time.

I was horrified. I jumped out of the car and grabbed the bike, I unhooked the rear wheel. I threw the bike in the back of the car, and pulled up to microphone:

"hi, welcome to McDonald's can I take your order?"

"yeah, I fuckin' just killed your safety bar that you got hangin' out here with my bike.
Do you need to report that to anyone? "

"Would you like something to eat?"

"I said I just smashed my bike into your safety pole out here..."

"would you like to order?"

"fuck, okay, I'll have a burrito and coke."

"that will be $2.50 please pull around."

I know those grimmace assed mfers were laughin' their french fries off. bastards.

And so that was how it went. I tried to report it, they didn't care. The burrito gave me heartburn, and the coke was watered down. What the hell was I thinking? The damage:

1. Carbon fiber fork, now with bent drop outs
2. Thule rook rack that bolts to the car, now ripped out
3. Thule bike pod destroyed.
4. Paint on side of car, not so good.

All this carnage and it wasn't even 8:00am yet. Fuck.

In the end, it worked out okay. Howard Brown from Newark Bike Line, set me up with some extra long Thule bolts for the rack. Which thank got didn't strip out the female part of the equation in my truck. As for the bike, well times are tough my friends. My FIL had given me an old road bike last fall, I used the groupo to build up my second cross bike, but the frame and fork hung in the basement. Not anymore! Because a carbon fork costs way more than a new chain, and some cable and housing! Slick Rick at Henry's hooked me up good, and helped me get the bike up and running fast. The bike is heavier than my c-dale, it has all the same parts, and the quill stem totally rocks, but you know what, it works, I'm not so much the road racer anyway. The destroyed tray, well that's destroyed. Like Meatloaf says, 2 out of 3 ain't bad. The real pisser of this is that before they put the safety pole in, I had driven through the drive through at this very mcdonald's with a bike on my car. Damn, it's hard out there for a pimp.

respect
fm

french creek photos.

taken from dennisbike thanks buddy !
Travis, me, and John, and Auer in the first 200 yards. It's good to look fast at the start. Even if I can't follow directions...



for the record ole john in the background who rode to teh podium today, is wearing one of my
secret henry's team jerseys. Can I get some credit for that?






Last weekend SpotPaul was rippin' it up on the track, and this week it's in the muck. He was happy his seat held up, unlike our last race where he rode his last lap sans seat.

















Tough Guy SpotPaul- the current Hardcore champ with in the Spot Brand Team, grinds out another lap in the endurance race...


















Fitzy boy pounded it out in the endurance race today. His plan was to double at michaux on sunday. Spot Paul's Hardcore title might be in jeapordy...

















a dazed, and bewildered fatmarc, did I mention lost? calls it a day.

French Creek Fiasco

Let me say this. I love racing in the rain. I love mudfests, I love brutal conditions. Why? Because I ain’t that good. My god given talents are less in the athletic, brains, or beauty department, and more in the I don't have enough common sense to quit area. When conditions are tough, my strengths get to shine. I have to work at this game, and work real hard. Everyday, ever pedal stroke is measured. Every effort counts. I have to, or I can’t ride the way I want to. Which basically means I'll get dropped by Todd (el presidente) So I love rainy days, I love the nasty ones, and if those are the only days the sun shines on my ass, I’ll take it gladly.

But I digress. Today’s race was my first 35+ expert race. I have been riding well and was stoked as the conditions were right up my alley. Lined up on the front row with Travis Sealer (single speed monster), Chris “power” Auer, and Green Trek John. I kinda stressed the start because it was long and flat before the first climb. I figured I was pretty vulnerable on the ole gay UPS truck, by Spot Brand. Much to my surprise, the four of us were able to get clear of the scrum pretty quickly. Auer came by me on the dam.

In the woods the ground was mucky, almost peanut butter. Big power stuff, Green Trek John, who climbs up fuckin’ walls came around me. A couple of other dudes come by me, Kuzak the eventual winner included as I struggled a bit in the deep mud. We hit the steep section everyone is walking.

We cross the road, and the trails were all rock. I start to grind. Pick up one of the guys that just past me, and we are rolling. Through the big rock garden, I’m in 5th, and moving. This is a good set up, mentally I’m ready to grind this out. I come up on some endurance riders, they go left, I look up a fellow questioning where I am supposed to go, the guy points in the same direction as the enduro guys, so I go.

I quickly pass them, and I’m getting my grove on. I feel like I’m flying down the rock strewn descents. I’m kinda surprised that I haven’t made contact with the 4th place rider or the lead group. That’s how good I felt. Then I feel kinda weird, like I’m on my own. Not catching anyone, the course is still marked, I see tape. I keep rolling. I admit, something doesn’t feel right. The loop seems short.

Climbing up what last year was one of the last climbs, Brandon d, passes me. A horrible thought hits my head. “That dude pointed me in the wrong direction.” I feel my motivation die. I talk to myself, “dude, common, you’ve been doing this for a long time, you don’t miss corners, he must be in the enduro race. “ I start grinding again and then my truth is revealed as Deiter comes by and says, “hey fat !” crap. I was lead the wrong way. I immediately go through the 5 steps of coping:

Denial- “no way this is happening, I’m in the top 5, I’m gonna get a podium. I just need to keep going.”
Anger- “MutherFucker. I’m gonna punch that fuckin’ Scum Bag in the face. Bastard should have marked the course better.”
Bargining- “well maybe if I finish this lap, I’ll start the next and ride the section I was directed away from twice, and then finish up…”
Depression- “aw man, I was having a good day, now, what the fuck. Can’t I buy a break?”
Acceptance- “Fuck. My day is done, no sense trashing this bike, I haven’t even gotten my other bike back from the ROTD. This sucks. It’s like when you were in high school, and you were about to score for the first time, and then her dad comes home from work early and you have to sneak out the window with a wood. My day is done.”

Coming through the start finish it was great to hear many cheers, “go fatmarc!” yeah, I’ll just go DQ myself. Fuck.

Blah, so it was a bad day, I'm kinda over it now. Hate the missed opportunity, but, I'll live to fight again. I'll have to take the advise of the 20-60-20 rule. This one will fall in the lower 20.

So, okay, I’m done bitching. It was good to see Wes, Travis, Yoder, all the Bike Line guys, as well as my spot teammates Paul, and Fitzy. Warmed up with Kyle a bit, we joked about having warmer gloves, Single Speed Dan, and Green Trek John too. Good to see the New York boys too. I hope they all had better days than I did. It was like a big party seeing so many old friends again. Jason Moore was on the scene too... This year is gonna be interesting forsure.

respect
fm

the problem with having a buddy, named BUDDY.

This is my buddy, BUDDY.

I have a buddy named BUDDY. The problem is this, in speaking I often refer to friends as a buddy. Although BUDDY is a good friend, when I refer to a buddy, that doesn't mean that it's my buddy named BUDDY, but just another friend. Example: I have a buddy that lives in Colorado. He parties like a rock star. Now anyone who knows me, knows that I'm talking about Dangerous Dan, not my buddy BUDDY.

Simple, you say, no problems at all. But here's where it gets complicated.

this is Matt, not BUDDY, my buddy...

Hangin' with my friend Matt (run forest), we are leaving, and I say, "ok, buddy you take it easy, have a great one." And Matt looks at me like I have three heads. I know he's thinking, "you bastard, I'm not BUDDY, you've known me for 5 years, my name is Matt, not BUDDY!"

Or worse yet, Scenario number 2, your talking on the phone to a friend and say something like "yeah, buddy it's good to hear from you, what's going on lately?" After the call, the wife will say, "oh, how's BUDDY doing?" I'll look at her like she has three heads and say, "how should I know? I haven't spoken to him in 2 days. I was talking to fortjames." To which she'll answer, "I just heard you call him by name?" with a coy smile she says, "what are you up to?" It doesn't take much to see how this could get ugly quickly.

Roger has had some buddy ussage issues.

Slick Rick and Roger at Henry's have the same trouble. Roger answers the phone, "Henry's how can I help you? sure buddy I can get that for you, just one second." And after about the 6th call, Rick starts to think, "shit, why's BUDDY calling here 100 times?, and damn why is he only talking to Roger?" so then Slick Rick is confused, and perhaps feeling a little jealous, so when old BUDDY shows up, and says, "howdy" to slick Rick, he's like, "oh now you want to talk to me, but I'm not good enough for the phone!" And poor BUDDY, has become the victim of the endearing reference to a friend or a buddy.

So friends, I just want to put this out there, that if I call you buddy, it's a term of endearment, I am referring to you as a friend, unless of course you are BUDDY, then I'm calling you by name, and if your name isn't BUDDY, it doesn't mean that I confused you for BUDDY, but that I think of you as a buddy. Make sense?

respect
fm

This ain't no disco - track report from Spot Paul

This is a carnival...no...wait...it's a track race. This aint no carnival...
QCW/Fort GPOA's Annual Spring Track Carnival was yesterday. Lisa and I went out to contest our categories and the master's events.
Let's start off by saying this was lots of fun. Racing hasn't been that much fun for the last couple of years, but this was a blast.
My goals for the day were simple, I didn't care about the results, I just wanted to affect the outcome of the races I was in and race smart. Mission accomplished. Here's a run-down of my races-

cat 2/3- 9 lap tempo, the first 2 across the line each lap get 2 and 1 point. The one with the most points at the end wins. I got lots of 3rd places.

Master's 12 lap points race, 3 sprints. Each sprint is worth 3-2-1 points for 1st 2nd and 3rd. Most points wins. I got 4th twice.

Cat 2/3- 12 lap points race, 4 sprints. Same format as above, I think I got 4th a couple more times. It's hard to tell since I was cross-eyed the whole race.

Master's 12 lap final, 1st across the line wins, pretty straight forward. I'm usually pretty good at these. Got myself in bad position, boxed in at the sprint. Finally got onto 3rd wheel coming around turn 3. Rob Ryan rode away from me and there was nothing I could do about it.

Cat 2/3 win & out. 9 laps, a sprint every 3 laps, the winner of the 1st sprint is the winner and he can go sit down, 2nd sprint is for 2nd place, 3rd sprint, well, you get it. Truly the lazy man's race. I'm sitting mid-pack for the 1st sprint, Austin, a friend is just under and a little behind me when the bell rings, boxed in. I see his plight and push up track to make a hole for him and yell at him to "GO!" Well he goes...right off the front and wins the race. Man, he's strong. 2nd sprint Rob Hacker is sitting off the front with about a half lap lead. The bell rings...what the hell. I give my all and spring free from the main group and I'm off in a full speed chase. Rob is sitting up there looking dead and pedaling squares, but he has enough to hold me off. That's a tough place to be, I'm completely wasted from the effort and wait for the group and settle in. Finished mid-pack.

Master's unknown distance point-a-lap. I don't know who the sadistic sonofabitch who came up with this race is, but I hate him. Just like it sounds, you have no idea when the race will end, but each lap is worth just 1 point to the 1st across the line. This race sucks.

Feature event- 15 lap final. I played domestique for Lisa in this one. Really fast right from the gun.

7 races, not a bad day. I attacked, I chased, I worked with others, I even made a cat 5 in the master's race nervous ("Yea, yea, I see you. Relax..."). Not a bad day at all. Oh yea, and I had the best looking bike out there.

Hustle and No Flow...

So Diane and I were in happy harry’s today. (a local pharmacy) as we were waiting to check out we notice a young couple kinda hanging back in the line. Well the line was long, and this young couple, probably 19 was waiting, letting folks go. It was kinda funny. Then Diane spotted what they were buying. Trojans. Rubbers. Condoms.

Yup, they young couple must be getting ready for a first shag, and well they were being smart and picking up some birth control, only they were trying to be smooth and INCOGNITO about their purchase. Diane laughed. I smirked and said, “like you know what it’s like to buy condoms.” As we walked back up main street the young couple walked in front of us. The held hands, and cuddled as they walked. Precursors to foreplay I am sure.

I commented to Diane that the dude was a cool player. She asked, “ why ?” I said, because if it was me, I’d be running down the street dragging her along. I’d be like, “gee honey, nothings better before a shag than a jog don’t you think?” Diane laughed. She knew that was a correct assement.

Running of the Bulldogs results were posted.

Following our effort last week, my greatest concern was getting warm and then hitting the local diner. MMMMM Belgian Waffles… But I digress, despite being down on ourselves a little bit for not riding as well as we hoped, I have to say things ended up much better than we anticipated:

Mens Senior Expert Duo
1. Buddy Briggs - Marc VeHori
2. Jim Gardner - Matt Myers
3. Gregg Cosgrove - John Parke
4. Roger Foco - Noah Meineke
5. Joe Baldacci - Art White
6. Christopher Esnes - Gary Mangee
7. Robert Campos - James Deegan

Sweet. First win of the year in the bag. Since we didn’t get to do a victory salute at the race, Buddy and I have been walking around together and every time we cross a line we have been thrusting our hands in the air. Spot Paul was kind enough to point out the miss spelling of my name. Vehori pronounced “veWHOREY” kinda appropriate I guess.

Spoke to the promoter about prizes and he said, " oonga- lagoona...oonga-googa-lagruna." I replied, "the cold got to you too huh?" So we finish and he starts to walk off.. you know he tries to stiff me and I say hey dude, "what's up? How about something for the effort you know? ... a little moola?" and he says , "oh there will be no money but on your deathbed you will receive total consciousness..." True Story , so I got dat going for me... which us nice...


Rode Granogue and Brandywine yesterday is coming together so well. However the rains last night made it considerably slower than it has been. There was lots of hustle going on but, little flow. The course wasn’t muddy, but in the last few weeks, it has been so dry it’s just rolled. Today not so much. Had a good group with Buddy the leg breaker, Chris from Beans, Slick Rick, and Fitzy-boy early on. I’m climbing so poorly, I tried to keep the pressure on every climb I rode today. The boys just looked at me and said, “your powers are weak, don’t make me destroy you.” I got the message, take my place at the back of the line Jeeeze. The force wasn’t with me, as I usually can see really good lines through the rocky stuff, but today I felt more like Helen Keller in a china shop. I’d plow through, not really smooth but getting the job done. Hope the lines come more cleanly next weekend…

Friday night Diane and I saw our old friend Amanda. It’s weird we haven’t seen her for ever, and now it’s been 3x in a couple of months. She is really one of the kindest most beautiful people I have ever known. Her and I talked about Andrew a bunch. I think about him all the time, but talking with Amanda was cool, she had different perspectives on things that were going on, and listening to her tell the stories was cool. Her attention to detail is amazing. It was good to share some of those memories again. Amanda is gonna start riding again, I think Diane is gonna teach her the White Clay stuff. That would be cool. Sometimes those days seem like yesterday, others they seem like an another life time entirely. It was good to reminisce for sure.

Well, I think I’m gonna go catch up with Willfredo and the Bikeline boys for their tour of Fairhill this morning. Wes the conqueror called last night, the VISIT PA boys and Mr. Yozell are meeting up at French Creek. Damn near broke my heart to pass up that ride, but with Easter Dinner at 1:00 at the in laws, that ride is gonna be impossible for me. In a world were I am constantly late getting home from rides, and Diane is saintly patient with me, but being late for Easter Dinner is not gonna bode well for me. Not to mention, my stock with my in laws has been down a bit, since the last thing my fil said was that obviously I was a tormented person or something like that.

Cut the grass for the first time of the season yesterday. Hmmm, I was hoping to hold off until may. Damn. Rock and roll, thrill the soul.

respect
fm

fresh breath...

Riley Stories:
one
My dog Riley has doggy breathe. You know that foul, you know he's been eatin' something you don't want to know about, and you really aren't happy that he just licked your face kinda way. So one day my wife gave him a tic tac. You know the little 1/2 calorie breathe mint. Well now, everytime Riley hears the "chik-a-chik-a" of a tic tac package he'll rush to Diane and sit at attention. It's pretty funny. You can throw one of these little mints in the air, he'll catch it, and chew it right up. Crunching all they way, and freshening his not so fresh doggy breathe. Riley doesn't get people food so this is a real treat. Does a tic tac count as people food?
two
2:00am we are all asleep in our bed.(Diane, Riley, Layla, and me). Riley dreams a lot, and when he does he'll rock around, back, start running while sleeping on his side. All cool things when you have four bodies crammed into a little bed. Yikes. Usually, Layla and Riley sleep in the middle between Diane and I, and push us out toward the edge. Last night, Riley was on the outside, and during one of his wild dreams, I can only image he was chasing something, or wrestling in mud or something else that dogs love to do, he rolled off the bed, and WHAMO!!! he hit the floor. He's startled Diane and I are startled, as we were sound asleep, it was 2:00 am. Riley looked dazed, confused as to how the hell did I end up on the floor? I think Ry-guy learned a valuable lesson last night. first, gravity always wins, and two, sleep on the inside.

Last night my legs felt pretty damned sussed out. 2 days hard in a row and I was pretty done. Matty (run forest) called and we rolled out of my place for mellow ride. "after all that shit I talked on Todd (el presidente) , tuesday, I just can't chase him around. He'll kill me tonight" I commented.

As we climbed up from the sunken bridge in Fairhill, whose voice did we here from the ridge. Todd's "hey boys!" A collective "fuck" echoed from Matt and I. However I have to say it was a kinder, gentlier Todd. He actually sat in on our group, and well all the shit we had thrown at him, he pretty much let us have back:

• "what's going on up there? bike getting tired?"
• after buzzing Matt's wheel, "sorry man, these little wheels are hard to control"
• my favorite, "as many times as I've ridden these trails, I've never seen that, I guess it's because I never rode this section this slow, I mean no offence, just an observation..."

sometimes, Karma teaches a mean lesson. In the end it was all good. After the horse jump Todd (el presidente) pulled off. He has a secret training camp this weekend with Fuzz, Alan teh cleaner, and Kelly. Matt (run forest) and I finished up a with just shy of 2 hours. It was slow, I was tired but it was a good ride.

Wish I knew this in high school...

From Mega's site:

"Lisa joins me and is shaking uncontrollably--she is locked out of her car and is in a heap of trouble with her core temperature. I convince her to get naked and put on some of my spare clothes. It doens't matter how much warm clothing you put on if your jog bra is soaking wet--handy tip for you gents trying to get a 'cross lady naked in your car--the wet jog bra has got to go!"

Wonder if that trick really works?

Rode with teh boys last night. They are fast. I am not. I suffered a lot. My legs were like wet noodles. Yikes. Scared to hear how much it's gonna cost to get my bike fixed from teh running of the dogs. Work is crazy right now. Good thing I love it. I'm looking forward to riding tomorrow.

respect
fm

EPIC

I should have know that when I came home from work Friday, and found Dangerous Dan sitting on my couch this weekend was gonna be EPIC. Dan was in town for a couple of weeks from his new home in Colorado, and we had been missing each other. I was stoked he was here. Diane, Dan and I headed down to Woody's in North East for a fine Seafood dinner. Maryland, has the best crabs anywhere. We had a few drinks, and Diane, well she had perhaps a few too many whiskey drinks before dinner came, and well she didn't really get to enjoy her dinner. The waitress was kind enough to offer to check on her in the bathroom, "because when women get sick sometimes it is good to have another woman there..." On the way home we had to make 4 stops so Diane could deposit some of her whiskey drinks in the front yards of our fellow Elkton residents. Sweet...

the white stuff is snow...

4:30 a.m. came really early. I loaded up the toaster and was off to meet up with my Spot Brand Teammates, and other friends for the trip. The drive was about two and a half hours, it was very good. We arrived at the race, it started raining. Figures, bone dry for the last 2 months, the first race comes up, and we get rain. Still the course was really good, and a lot of fun, the folks from bulldog have a really good event. Buddy and I raced the expert duo class. We started out probably a little too strongly, I tried to be patient, but kept chasing folks in front of me. Buddy would rein me in, but damn that's hard. First two laps, I probably pushed the tempo too much. We rode with Elk for a while, and had a Super Train of Spot Brand Death with the three of us plowing through. That was pretty cool.

here's mud in my eye. The real one always ate donoughts on days like this...

Lap three I stuffed a cliff bar down, and the sky opened up first with hail, and then flat out snow. My cliff bar just stuck in my stomach, of course I usually use GU, but by going out with Dangerous Dan, I had to settle for a cliff bar from Wawa. I think Amazin' Andrew is gonna hit me next time he sees me. So I started to really suffer and feel the pain of the first two laps. The course was steadily getting worse. The mud got thicker and more peanut-buttery. Buddy and I both suffered the loss of our disc breaks. Which I thought were supposed to be perfect for these conditions? WTF !?

On lap four Buddy really opened up. Despite my good level of hydration, I was taking a lot of endurance Gatorade in; the cliff bar rock in my stomach was no good. I thought I might puke up that peanut butter goodness, much like Diane and a whiskey drink. I cracked. I was in a world of hurt. Snow was falling, and feeling in my hands, and feet was gone.

I fell over after this picture...

Buddy really kept us in the game here. He did a great job keeping me positive and talking me through the last half of the 4th lap, which I started to get kinda lost on, and a 5th lap, which was tough. On said 5th lap, I was hurting, but Buddy kept pushing me and kept us rolling. That was awesome. I know on the 5th lap he had to be twiddling his thumbs behind me. After 5 laps, roughly 30 miles, and 3:04 on the bike, Team 12, Buddy and I retired for the day. I was cold, muddy, tired, and happy to be finished, even if we came up a bit shy of the 4 hour mark. It was a good ride. I have no idea how we finished, but it was a fun effort, very hard, and I�m glad to have the first race of the season in the bank.

K-man in secret henry's kit had a very nice day today...

Paul and Matt have some mechanical issues. Paul broke a seat and effectively ended his day after 3 laps. Matt had a heartbreaker. With a half a lap or so to go, he and the leader are riding together. Matt's crank brother pedal breaks, leaving him with just the spindle.

Matt future Time pedal customer. That's SpotPaul smiling in the background... Broken seat, smiling face, a lot I could do with that one...

Matt realizes it's now or never and attacks, getting a very strong gap. Matt looks like he has the win in the bag. Problem is he can barley pedal, muddy ass foot slipping off the spindle. He makes it to the finish. Now here's the issue. He gets in at 2:59. The race isn't over until 3:00. He's made the last half a lap on one pedal, one legged basically. He can't continue like this. So it's a waiting game at the finish, with only like 30 seconds to go, the second place rider from NYC Velo, comes through and gets out in time for a 6th and final lap, taking the W. Heartbreak for Matt, and another sale for Time pedals. Matt rode very strong today, Hella, nice job Matty. Results should be posted later this week, I'll highlight everyone's once I have them

Bob from Bean's was 3rd in SS today...

In other great news. After the first lap, I saw Les standing on the side of the trail. He comments, "dude I got third" I was thinking to myself, "sweet, but wait..." Les continues, " yeah, I thought I'd be the first finisher, but 2 dudes, quit before me., Damn, I got 3rd from last..." I almost crashed laughing.