chapter 15: twilight

So Saturday night I’m working a Special Olympics benefit, the Reindeer run here in Newark, De. All of the volunteers were given a set of reindeer antlers. Many of the college sorority houses were volunteers. So as I helped Dan the man, and Rock Star Henry set up the finish line and a pack of sorority sisters walked towards us with their antlers on I said:

“Hey ladies, nice racks!!”

I laughed, they didn’t. Damn I amuse myself.

Sunday we loaded up the toaster and headed to Reston. At this point I have to apologize to the

entire men’s B field for jamming up the start. You see it right after the calls up and we were on the line that I realized Ray Ray wasn’t there, and basically with a top 20 finish, I’d move into the top 10 on points. I cheered, Mayhew and I started joking about
Taking beer feeds. Everyone laughed. My hands were in the air, no one was really looking forward even.

And the official blew the whistle. We were off. Well sort of, some folks rolled forward,
Some looked around, and finally we all took off. I know I jammed up a lot of people, by, well basically being a jackass on the line, Sorry folks.

Anyway the race took off and with 3 to go I found myself in a tough group of 4 with Brewer, Dunn, and fellow DCCoDer Robby. Brewer was very powerful and in the open sections could gap the group, we could claw our way back in the technical sections, I was really aggressive cornering coming down the hill. Robby gave me a great pull up to the barriers with one and a half to go. He then faded off a bit. He is going to be a great crosser.

Next lap, Dunn , I who I felt like had a similar skill set to mine, and I attacked hard through the twisty stuff, and finally were able to get clear of Brewer. Truth be told, I did not want to sprint that guy.

Last half a lap I sat in on Dunn. I was playing strategery.
He had great lines, and we flowed really well. I was debated to try and attack early, or sit in for the sprint on the road. I jumped on the grass hill, got a little gap, he attacked back and might have caught me, but going tape to tape got caught up in the tape and I was able to slip away. I finished 11th place, which was enough to move me into the top 10 for the series, so yeah I got that going for me.

Now I admit, I really wanted a top 10 today; I may have invested a little more than I should have on the second lap. Oh, well, I rode well. 10 days now with no knee pain,
Body is feeling good; I’m pretty stoked for nationals, despite a not so great starting spot.

After the race, you could feel the love big time. Ferrari had a nice bottle of bourbon which I was happy to partake of.
Mayhew, who claimed he didn’t drink decided to have a drink with us. E-town of course partook, as well as my main man Spanky. The killer B’s are truly a great group of guys, from Morgan, to Greg and all the HVC guys, Nystrom, Miles, Harshman, everyone, awesome stuff. I am proud to race amongst them.

Susie went all out today and had a cake made up, it had this picture on it:



So of course my line was: Hey man do you want to eat me?

All in all a great day, the Fort Factory team took home the team title, Betsy took home the women’s title , Wes took home the men’s title, Lisa Lisa the 35+ women, Gunnar 45+, Spot Paul the 35+ B’s. Good stuff for the DccoD and Fort. 2 Weeks until nationals. Man, I love cross, I will hate for this to be done.

on the way home the DccoD caravan (slick rick, jen, mike c, E-town, FFA, Monkey, Rob Thomas, not the no talent ass clown from M20, Tom (BGT), and I stopped at the red brick brewing co in white marsh. They had dollar stoudts. Tasty, I ate a monte cristo, how can you miss a hot ham and cheese sandwich on french toast? you just can't.

Respect
fm