chapter 95: irving the duck

So at work Friday I get a huge box delivered to me. It is addressed to of course me, and I admit I was wondering what is in this big box. I'm not expecting a delivery. I looked for the return address hoping for some clue. It read, " Biker Dude, the clog factory's address". Hmmmm. that's strange. So I open the box rather cautiously, I mean the unibomber might have turned on clog customer service mangers/cyclocrossers.

In the box I find a duck, dressed as an elf. I have no idea who has sent me this fine duck. He is very nice. And after sharing with my teammates at work with the thought that one of them might have been behind the mystery duck, I elicited only laughter and love for my new duck.
Alas no ducker in that crowd.

I called my wife, perhaps she was the mystery ducker. She laughed hysterically, but is not the culprit. In fact, she was really excited and embraced my duck as a member of the family. I think I'll call him Irving. Yup, that sounds good, Irving the duck.

Mystery Ducker, I know you are out there, it's just a matter of time before I find out who you are...

New Hope Race I

Lap 1

just around the 2nd courner I get tangled up with Dan Conrad and go slamming to the ground in a fit of fury, landing in a nice soft puddle of mud. I get my whits about me and look up to see the race riding quickly away from me. I just went from top 15 to dead last. My first instinct was to just go home. The races were super muddy, super hard on bodies and bikes. But then, well I figured I should at least ride a lap. I admit I was kinda riding with a "fuck it" approach. I made motorcycles sounds "brapp!!!" and High Fived the crowd as I rode through sections. But then, I caught 3 guys, and looked up and there was another group so, I switched back to game mode.

Lap 2-3-4
I just consistently moved forward, tried to keep making ground and kinda hoped that I could eek my way back into some points, not that I'm chasing anything, but I'd love to keep my second row start for the final MAC race. The race was hard, I felt like I ran as much as I rode. But I put my head down, and even danced my way through the barriers the last time through.
I lost an even up sprint with Spanky in a bike throw. I wanted to dispute the photo finish but the offical said there was no photo finish for 24th place. damn. So in the end I got 25th, 1 pt. sweet.

On paper this looks like my worst race all year, in reality I rode pretty well, and I feel pretty good about my last 3 laps, and my race in general. Dan came up to me afterward and apologized, he is a really good kid, I respect the guy, and it wasn't like he tried to take me out. Shit happens, just would have rather it happened somewhere besides the first 3 minutes of the race. Whatever, no blood no foul.

Thanks to Fort James and Spot Paul who worked tireslessly to make sure I had a fresh clean bike every lap, thanks to everyone that cheered for me, and kept encouraging me to keep moving on.

Tomorrow I head back. Not because I love the mud, or thought the venue was really all that great, but because I love cyclocross, and frankly I only have a few more chances to do this until September of next year, I don't want to let this slip away. As I told Jan, "we are cyclocrossers, this is what we do."

respect
fm