164: go west fitzy...

Friday night much of the DCCoD community gathered to raise a toast to our buddy Mark Fitzwater, who like Dangerous Dan, Mike and Jeanie, and Katie before him, has heard the calling west, and could not resist. I have been on teams with Fitzy as long as I have been on teams. First on Wooden Wheels and then riding for Michael and Jessica. As a team director he set the standard, supporting our community through countless 24hr teams, and building an incredible record that earned him the nickname "Johan". As a rider, Fitzy was one of the smoothest guys I got to ride with, and put together a hell of a endurance resume of his own over the past few years. Fitzy has pretty much built the "Weymouth's section" of Granogue into what it is today. He has always busted his ass to make sure the Granogue races came off the best, and made sure folks always enjoyed his section. A great story teller, always ready to share a slice of his world with you, Fitzy has been beloved in our community. Colorado better treat him right.

Friday morning saw Monkey and I on the road early. The past two weekends Buddy, Rachael, Diane and I have headed out on climbing adventures that involved getting lost and wandering around the woods. Today Monkey and I got lost on route 611 north.

At 7:45, I had kinda resolved that I was going to miss my start, but still had a shot to get Monkey to hers. We called Ethan woke him up, and had him map quested us directions. (thanks man)

I got there, picked up my packet and squeezed in a 15 minute warm up on the trainer, while firing back a redbull, before heading to the start. Not my ideal warm up, but what the hell.

From looking at past running of events here, I knew I had to pull a time around 22 and some change to get a good result. My time of 23:18 however did not deliver such a pretty result. It's okay, I had fun, and really I gave it everything I had. I took off, put it in my biggest gear and turned it as fast as I could. 25.7 mile per hour average for the race. I knew my result was going to be ugly when local honch Spencer, who started :30 seconds behind me, caught me with 2 miles to go. I'm strong right now, but I don't have any form, I had fun today. I can be better.

I was also super proud of Monkey in her first time trial. She was worried about being able to break 30 minutes for the 10 miles. She didn't think anyway, anyhow she could average over 20 mile per hour. Despite borrowing E-town's helmet that she couldn't keep out of her face, she finished in 28:38 or so. She was very pleased. I was very proud of her.

The on the drive home, yeah, we got lost again. We counted 7 starbucks while we were lost. It was beautiful.

Pictures by Anthony Skorochod. Super good dude, I think I'm gonna get a t-shirt made out of this one. The helmet makes it a classic.

good luck Fitzy.

respect

faticus