097: spring bliss

so after a very, very, very long time Monkey has clearance to get outside on the bike in very small and safe incremental rides.

we are both very stoked. the rides have to be very controlled and she has to be careful to not re-injure herself.

we rode today, it was awesome.

Near the end of our loop we came upon a small group of dudes just up the trail from us. Diane was spinning nicely, but I realized we were closing in quickly on them.

I said to her kindly, "Diane.."

She sat up a little.

I followed up, "is it that hard for you to not chase those guys down?"

She turned back to me smiling and said, "it is, it really, really is..."

Diane was stoked to see friends out on the trail. As a cyclist, one of the challenges when you are injured is that you really feel isolated as you just don't see folks like you did in the past. this cycling game is social. Sad and demented, but clearly social.
I raced the Philly Phlyer this weekend. Here is my brief race report:

After siting in traffic on the Schuylkill for an hour and a half I end up at the venue with less than 30 minutes until my start. I'm a little frantic, but get registered. Thanks to D.Lowe for the notes on the course, pinning me, and generally talking me down. Lap started fast. I want to stay in the top 20% of the 100 or so riders. It's fast, I'm pretty sure I'll never see the front. Lap 2: see Lap 1. Lap 3 three dudes get off the front, I think 2 of the 3 teams that were well represented with numbers have riders in the break (Bike Therapy, Iron Hill, and Tri-State Velo). Final lap starts. IN addition to 3 up the road, a small break of 4 has formed about 15 seconds off the pack. I think this will stick, so I attack off the front, kill myself but with the help of a homie from Kutztown, we bridge across. As we head out of the venue and on to the course, the peloton decided that if a fatdude in a snow camo skinsuit on the first day of spring can bridge, then the break needs to come back. I pretty much figured that was the end of my day. I stayed in the field, and then as we climbed back to the finish I found myself in good position. I could see the light of day as we crested the final hill. Then two temple guys took each other out. then some guy swerved into me I think in reaction to the temple guys, and i screamed like a little girl, did some evasive maneuvers and pulled my foot out of my pedal.

So essentially with 1000 meters or so to go, I have one foot clipped in, shit in my pants because I thought for sure I was going to crash but didn't and pretty much everyone left in the field has just charged by me. Awesome. I rode it in and a nice kid from I guess it was Brown rode along side me and told me he wasn't going to sprint me. Nice kid those Brown guys...

Bad news, any chance for a nice result went out the window, good news I didn't hit the deck and my face doesn't have road rash.

another good day in the legs.

Philly Phyler Photos by Alan Rodinski...

Sunday, did a great mtb ride with almost everyone in Newark. Peaches drug me around all day... very fun... More here and here.

thanks for reading.

respect
fatmarc